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The Radium Girls

The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women

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The Radium Girls

Written by: Kate Moore
Narrated by: Angela Brazil
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About this listen

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Drawing on previously unpublished sources - including diaries, letters, and court transcripts as well as original interviews with the women's relatives - The Radium Girls is an intimate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 Americas Medicine & Health Care Industry Politics & Government Women Military Heartfelt Scary War Health Care Medicine
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The value of a life is immeasurable. This book merges the injustices of a company, the scientific facts and the individual realities of many women, and their families, who were knowingly poisoned.

captivating story

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I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Shocking.
The narrator had to grow on me. But I do not recommend using high quality headphones because you can hear her swallow and it is distracting and grew to be disturbing.

Swallow

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Corny to say, but it's true, this book will make you laugh and cry. The lives of the women are very well told. You really feel for what they went through, which makes it all that much worse of a story to hear.

Still, absolutely worth reading.

heartbreaking read

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Like other reviewers there were elements of the book that were hard to listen thru. The details of glasses, noses, clothing got tiresome and the style of speaking was irritating. Ignore it. Listen. This story is worth the frustrations.

Ignore the weaker elements and listen

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Despite this being a tragedy, the story is beautifully written and somehow full of hope and spirit. Absolutely essential reading for everyone. No one should take our scientific knowledge for granted.

Inspiring story

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