The Radium Girls

The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women

De: Kate Moore

Narrado por: Angela Brazil

The year was 1917. As a war raged across the world, young American women flocked to work, painting watches, clocks, and military dials with a special luminous substance made from radium. It was a fun job, lucrative and glamorous - the girls themselves shone brightly in the dark, covered head to toe in the dust from the paint. They were the radium girls.

As the years passed, the women began to suffer from mysterious and crippling illnesses. The very thing that had made them feel alive - their work - was in fact slowly killing them: They had been poisoned by the radium paint. Yet their employers denied all responsibility. And so, in the face of unimaginable suffering - in the face of death - these courageous women refused to accept their fate quietly and instead became determined to fight for justice.

Drawing on previously unpublished sources - including diaries, letters, and court transcripts as well as original interviews with the women's relatives - The Radium Girls is an intimate narrative account of an unforgettable true story. It is the powerful tale of a group of ordinary women from the Roaring 20s who themselves learned how to roar.

©2017 Kate Moore (P)2017 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Loved the story but...

I loved the story, the history in it, the shadiness of big business. Everything like that. The story was what compelled me to finish the book. The narrator on the other had was extremely difficult for me to handle. The reading was fine, speed and accent was fine. However you could hear every swallow, mouth movement and lip smack. It was so distracting and I could barely handle it. The editing of this was horrible. It seemed like every sentence you could hear it. So I could not listen to this with ear buds or else I would be so distracted and annoyed about it. Great story but should have just bought the book not the audio version

The Performance Is Terrible And I’ll Tell You Why

The pauses in between words are way too long and her emphasis in words seems odd. At first I thought it must be read by an AI because it seemed so irrationally exaggerated at the wrong words. After the first chapters though it started making a bit more sense but it was still too cheerily read for the context. I’m sure the writing itself doesn’t lend itself well and I believe she’s trying to exaggerate to make distinctions when there are quotes but it’s pretty awful. The story itself is interesting but the writing is rather lackluster.

Sad and poignant

Interesting and so sad. While you knew the story in part from the beginning it was very interesting throughout.

Intriguing

This story was written and performed very well. It was drawn out with details of so many of these women and their families. Would recommend!

Powerful story, importance message but awful narration

The absolute horror of this books tragic content is matched only by the worse narration I’ve heard to date!

The material itself is well researched and puts the true suffering and subsequent determination of these young women upfront and central. What these women endured to get a little justice is hard to hear.

Net, net great book, important part of labour history but the narration near ruined it completely: I’ll be sending my comments to audible accordingly.

Such justice in this retelling

I watched the movie in between listening to this book twice. In such anticipation I was so looking forward to the movie. Instead I was offended by the lack of honor it gave to these pioneers of our modern life. I had to listen again just to renew my love of this beautiful story. These women deserve such a grand place in our history. Thank you to this author for such an incredible story. Highly recommended

Good book

I enjoyed the subject. The narrator was excellent. If you enjoy science , medical research or history you will enjoy this!

Fascinating story, a tad long

I listened to this on a road trip. While fascinating, I feel the content could have been trimmed by a third.

WOW

I'm a retired RN who's also an advocate and history buff. This book more than kept me involved. I was previously unaware of the plight of the "Radium Girls " . It gave salaries, medical costs and settlements in the era they occurred as well as the costs in today's market. The narrator was so strong she reinforced the cause of The Radium Girls, their struggles and ultimate victory over big business. I admired their persistence, courage and how much they were able to change Workmens Compensation Law. That was a major accomplishment for the day and time and didn't focus on the lack of protection of just women but all exposed to work place poisoning. Would like to read more about these incidents. Such a book. I literally took it with me everywhere headphones, ear buds charger for the tablet and auxiliary cord.

The More Things Change. . .

If "the more things change, the more they remain the same" holds currency, this book proves it. Yes, we have better Worker's Compensation laws now. Yes, we can see progress, but also the lack of progress from yesteryear. The Radium Girls is well detailed, thorough, and instructive. At times, the detail is perhaps a bit more specific than necessary, but I would not edit it much. Sections on the courtroom interfaces are very instructive, as are the denials of problems by the employer. Medical care remains a problem now as it was then. Judicial and corporate failures reign for years, and technicalities can destroy the logic and humanity of urgent remedies, even today. This book is not irrelevant ancient history; precedent-based judicial logic without compassion, capitalist abuses, corruption, legal representation pitfalls, issues of settlement and swindling, all of these crimes happen still. Look to this volume as not a finished story. We have more to do, and the old way of doing things is too slow, too fraught with injustice, and has too many loopholes. Read this book and think about modern problems - from rainforest protection to health policies to family law. The narration is a comfortable listening experience on Audible. I recommend this book for policy-makers, judges, human rights activists, those concerned about health care reform, and I think it is required reading for hard-core capitalists to read but the blind will not see the meaning. The health impact of the radium painted products and product liability was not developed in the book. Perhaps that is another story.