Scan barcode
A review by sassenachthebookwizard
The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore
5.0
Lip-Dip-Paint...Lip-Dip-Paint...Lip-Dip-Paint...Lip-Dip-Paint...Lip-Dip-Paint...Lip-Dip-Paint
Those words are going to haunt me for the rest of my life. This story is heartbreaking, infuriating and eye-opening. This made me rage even more than normal at American corporations. I also had no idea how heavily it was promoted to the workers! My god!
I was under the (very wrong) impression that once we figured out that radium was bad, we stopped using it (oh how naive I was) but holy hell! They were using radium bi-product in children's sandboxes! Just let that sink in! It was the cigarette industry before the cigarette industry! I had no idea how many products and places it was used in or the way corporations and government employees stuck their heads in the sand. EVEN WHEN PEOPLE WERE LITERALLY LOSING THEIR JAWS! I don't understand how I never learnt about this or any of these women at all during my 12 years in school + 4 years getting a history degree + 2 years getting my library degree! Why isn't this mentioned or taught when studying work safety, women's studies, WWI history?!
I did a bit of wandering around Google images for old newspaper articles and pictures which I would absolutely recommend! It's rather shocking but being able to visually place a face to the names made such an impact on me.
It's horrifying what had to happen to even get real safety standards in the workplace and how many people had to donate years of their lives.
I loved the writing. It's not a high paced adventure yet the book kept my attention all the way through and read like a fiction. I really found the media's role in the whole court situation fascinating!
RIP All these amazing women
Those words are going to haunt me for the rest of my life. This story is heartbreaking, infuriating and eye-opening. This made me rage even more than normal at American corporations. I also had no idea how heavily it was promoted to the workers! My god!
I was under the (very wrong) impression that once we figured out that radium was bad, we stopped using it (oh how naive I was) but holy hell! They were using radium bi-product in children's sandboxes! Just let that sink in! It was the cigarette industry before the cigarette industry! I had no idea how many products and places it was used in or the way corporations and government employees stuck their heads in the sand. EVEN WHEN PEOPLE WERE LITERALLY LOSING THEIR JAWS! I don't understand how I never learnt about this or any of these women at all during my 12 years in school + 4 years getting a history degree + 2 years getting my library degree! Why isn't this mentioned or taught when studying work safety, women's studies, WWI history?!
I did a bit of wandering around Google images for old newspaper articles and pictures which I would absolutely recommend! It's rather shocking but being able to visually place a face to the names made such an impact on me.
It's horrifying what had to happen to even get real safety standards in the workplace and how many people had to donate years of their lives.
I loved the writing. It's not a high paced adventure yet the book kept my attention all the way through and read like a fiction. I really found the media's role in the whole court situation fascinating!
RIP All these amazing women