REVIEW: Radium Girls - The Dark Story of America's Shining Women

Radium Girls
The Dark Story of America's Shining Women
Author: Kate Moore

In the early 1900s Radium was a sensation. The Curie's discovery was touted as a cure-all, a miracle, a wonder. At the time, little was understood about the side effects of handling Radium, however.

In an era when most jobs for women were low paying, young women lined up for positions painting clock faces with radium paint. The jobs were high paying and gave them status in their community. The clock faces glowed a radiant green in the dark, making them a popular purchase. These girls sat for hours happily painting, pointing their paint brushes by swishing them in their mouths. They played games with leftover radium paint, drawing moustaches on themselves, painting their eyebrows, dabbing a bit on their lips. Then they would huddle in a dark room, laughing at the bright green glow. The effect didn't wear off after work. Their clothes, their hair, even their skin would glow. Often they wore their best dresses to work so that their clothing would glow at parties. What they didn't realize is the painful effects Radium exposure would have on their health.

When many of these dial painting employees began having serious medical issues....chronic mouth infections, loose teeth, disintegrating jaw bones, tumors, and even death....their employers turned a blind eye. They refused to take responsibility for the work-related illnesses and deaths. Several studies were done that refuted claims that radium was the cause of the illnesses. It took years of fighting and public outcry for life-saving regulations to be put in place to protect workers from this scale of work related injury and blatant disregard for employee health and safety.

This book is well-written and an enjoyable read. It tells the tale of these bright, happy young women who were so excited to have a high paying, fun job...but who often paid a high price for working with radium. They were risking their lives for $17.50 (about $242 today) a week, and didn't even know it. When dentists starting noticing multiple women with crumbling jaw bones and chronic mouth infections, it took years for the cause to be traced back to radium. Rather than putting their employees health at the forefront, the employers involved chose to hide the facts so they could continue to make money. The women, injured by exposure to Radium, had to fight to have their story heard, and it led to work place safety regulations to prevent similar exposure to future workers. They were courageous and fought for what they knew was right.

This book is horrifying and haunting, yet compelling. I'm glad the stories of these women and what they endured isn't being lost to time. It was 100 years ago now, but their fight for justice shouldn't be forgotten. Lovely and informative read. I highly recommend it!