Book Review: "The Radium Girls" by Kate Moore

 

4/5 stars

*Spoiler alert!*

“‘It is an offense against Morals and Humanity,’” he concluded, “‘and, just incidentally, against the law.’” 

The Radium Girls by Kate Moore tells a harrowing story about the early days after the discovery of radium by the Curies and its lasting reverberations to the present. Radium, “dubbed “liquid sunshine,” could be described as critical to national security in the days of WWI in addition to a booming industry. The companies that sprang to meet the war demand advertised high pay and attracted women workers to paint dials in their factories, to paint those dials with a radium-containing paint so they glowed in the dark.  

Radium Girls gives voice to the many workers who answered the call of the radium industry to become dial painters and the deadly aftermath of their occupations. While wartime demanded peak production, radium was seen as a miracle material for civilians as well—in applications such as radium tonic cures to giving style to a variety of appliances and accessories. One company supervisor told his workers radium would “give them rosy cheeks.”  

Despite radium being known as dangerous since 1901—I think the death of the Marie Curie would have been enough proof, but I guess certain dots had not been connected yet—the element was viewed as healthful and not dangerous, due to its ability to stimulate red blood cell production. Even as workers and former workers at these radium firms took ill and deteriorated quickly—the descriptions of teeth falling out and Swiss-cheese like holes being made in bones from the radiation were harrowing—the companies denied radium was to blame.

“The cynical would say there was only one reason a high-profile specialist finally took up the cause. On June 7, 1925, the first male employee of the United States Radium Corporation died.” 

It was not until a male employee at the United States Radium Corporation died that the company decided to take things seriously and bring in a qualified investigator. (The quote is not cynical at all—even today, women are still treated as disposable. Sexism gonna sexism.) The women began to file lawsuits, despite the David versus Goliath nature of the case in an era where worker protections were scant. One of these courageous women was Grace Fryer, whose test case helped lead to new worker safety regulations. 

“And Grace Fryer was never forgotten. She is still remembered now—you are still remembering her now. As a dial-painter, she glowed gloriously from the radium powder; but as a woman, she shines through history with an even brighter glory: stronger than the bones that broke inside her body; more powerful than the radium that killed her or the company that shamelessly lied through its teeth; living longer than she ever did on earth, because she now lives on in the hearts and memories of those who know her only from her story. 
 
Grace Fryer: the girl who fought on when all hope seemed gone; the woman who stood up for what was right, even as her world fell apart. Grace Fryer, who inspired so many to stand up for themselves.” 

I want to emphasize that these women did not start off as wanting to be martyrs for the cause of environmental and workers’ rights but were forced into fighting for their lives and their families. Grace Fryer was one such woman who knew when she was being wronged and that she ought to have justice, even if justice was slow-going. 

It took too long and cost so much, but the world finally woke up to the dangers of radioactivity on workers and people in general, thanks in part to the women who died from radium poisoning donating their bodies to science. A firm that had employed women at the Radium Dial Company in Illinois left an extremely toxic legacy of radioactivity whose effects are still felt today by residents.

 

Finally, in September of 2011, the governor of Illinois proclaimed “Radium Girls Day” and gave the women their due for helping to fight for workers’ rights.  

“‘The radium girls,’” the governor announced, “‘deserve the utmost respect and admiration…because they battled a dishonest company, an indifferent industry, dismissive courts, and the medical community in the face of certain death. I hereby proclaim September 2, 2011, as Radium Girls Day in Illinois, in recognition of the tremendous perseverance, dedication, and sense of justice the radium girls exhibited in their fight.’” 

It is a case of hindsight being 20/20, but this story was enraging and heartfelt all at the same time. I will admit that I had not heard the story of the Radium Girls before, and Moore’s book has helped open my eyes. The legacy of radioactivity hovers over us even today, between nuclear arms races and peaceful use of nuclear power, and reminds us of the importance of protecting human life. The Radium Girls is a powerful call for fighting the good fight for environmental and social justice and the enormous difference ordinary people can make when banding together to fight injustice.  

Happy reading! 

--BookOwl