Red-Haired Ash Reads

The Radium Girls discusses the lives, careers, trials, and death of the women who worked in factories painting watches, clocks, and other military dials with radium so they will illuminate. They were repeatedly told that radium wasn’t harmful, and taught to make their paint brushes into a point using their mouths. So when the women started getting sick in various ways, they at first didn’t think it was occupational. This story goes over these women’s lives and trials to find out what was happening to them and to seek justice against the company who never told them about the dangers of radium.

This was a very heartbreaking but incredible look at one of the most terrible instances in labor history. This has been on my TBR for years and I am so glad I finally got around to reading it. From the beginning I was hooked on how Moore presented this piece of history. She weaved these women’s lives, careers, happiness, sadness, etc. all together with their battle to get this company to admit their wrongs and pay out. I loved that she centered these women and didn’t just show the trials they faced. She presented them as women first, and trailblazers for labor safety second. 

This is a book I will definitely be recommending to everyone looking for history books. This really showcased a piece of history that had widespread impacts and showcased the strength of these women who were determined to fight back. 

TW: death; graphic depiction of radium side effects on women; infertility; miscarriage; cancer; 

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