There were definitely some places that dragged in the story for me--but largely because it was a cycle of the same things happening in different locations, overall this is a great book. Lots of good information about the hazards in the workplace and how far companies will go to protect their bottom line.

I'm also surprised how little people understood about radium and plutonium, and how much was glossed over when information started getting out. ( )

The physical illnesses these poor women endured (too horrible to mention here) and the treatment by corporation to hide from blame. It reminds me a lot of the tobacco companies admitting the dangers of smoking. Everyone needs to hear this amazing story. ( )

Kate Moore presents a very interesting and engaging history of the radium girls. She starts the story with the infatuation with radium that led to it's use in so many ways. The story then winds it's way into the 1980s when the last of the radium girls died and a movie was made about the subject. Included in this history is the impact the lives and health of these women had on workers rights and legislation. I highly recommend if the reader has an interest in any of these topics. ( )

Approximately one hundred years ago, in Newark and Orange, New Jersey, and in Ottawa, Illinois, females in their teens and twenties were delighted when an opportunity arose to make a better-than-average income as dial painters. Each employee was required to brush a luminous substance containing radium on watch and clock dials. To make the process more efficient and precise, their instructors taught the dial painters to place the brushes in their mouths to form a neat point. What the young ladies did not know was that the material they were handling was toxic. After this radioactive element enters one's body, it is a "silent stalker" that triggers changes in the blood and bones, causing severe and irreversible damage. Kate Moore's "The Radium Girls" is a heartbreaking and superbly written book about these unfortunate women and their fight for justice.

To obtain the facts needed to bring "The Radium Girls" to life, Kate Moore drew from primary and secondary sources such as newspaper articles, diaries, official records, and interviews with those who knew the dial painters. Moore points out that the dial painters' bosses reassured their employees that not only was the radium paste safe, but it also improved one's health and appearance! Most of the book is a description of the drawn-out legal jockeying between the companies' high-powered lawyers and the dial painters' attorneys. When they developed alarming symptoms that steadily worsened, the victims needed money to pay their exorbitant medical bills. Even though the companies occasionally offered small settlements, in general, the executives came up with clever tricks to avoid paying anything at all. In spite of their travails, Moore informs us, many of the radium girls displayed admirable "strength, dignity, and courage."

Heightening the story's poignancy, Moore provides personal details of the misery endured by the dial painters' loved ones. Their parents, siblings, spouses, and friends came to realize that--barring a miracle—any human being exposed to so much radium would die in agony. In this skillfully written and riveting account of the evils of greed, immorality, and sexism, Kate Moore offers at least one ray of hope. The court battles and widespread publicity generated by the plight of the radium girls set the stage for occupational safety reforms that, although too late for the dial painters, would save many others from a similar fate. ( )

A depressing, uplifting and absolutely fascinating book. I would recommend it to anyone. ( )