Reading Right Now - The Radium Girls

This week's reading right now feature is actually a book I finished about a year ago, The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore.  My Goodreads review of this book was short, sweet, and to the point; "What an amazing way to tell the story about these strong women who changed the world." So I want to take advantage of the change to expand on my review a bit now.  

Official book synopsis:

The Curies' newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War.

Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil amidst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories. The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe; they light up the night like industrious fireflies. With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" are the luckiest alive — until they begin to fall mysteriously ill.

But the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women's cries of corruption. And as the fatal poison of the radium takes hold, the brave shining girls find themselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of America's early 20th century, and in a groundbreaking battle for workers' rights that will echo for centuries to come.

Written with a sparkling voice and breakneck pace, The Radium Girls fully illuminates the inspiring young women exposed to the "wonder" substance of radium, and their awe-inspiring strength in the face of almost impossible circumstances. Their courage and tenacity led to life-changing regulations, research into nuclear bombing, and ultimately saved hundreds of thousands of lives...

This synopsis does not even begin to scratch the surface of how haunting this book truly is.  Kate Moore does an absolutely wonderful job of truly capturing the personalities of the women about whom she is writing.  I remember growing up and learning something somewhere about the glowing women, probably from a footnote in a history book about WWI. I distinctly remember learning about how they would paint their skin to glow in the dark before going out for a night on the town or on dates.  What I don't remember learning is about how horrific this paint was for their bodies or the massive cover up that took place by the companies they worked for to hide the dangers.   I also don't remember learning that if it weren't for these women many if not all of the protections that employees have today would not be in place.   

These women deserve to be honored, not only for the work they did helping paint glow in the dark dials for airplanes to fly at night during the war, nor for the sacrifice they unknowingly made of their health during their employment, but for their determination and drive to right a wrong and bring forward justice for those who suffered.  

I gave this book a 5 star rating on Goodreads, and I am not the only one.  The current average rating is 4.18 stars, which is kind of astronomical for a historical novel.  If you are looking for something to read that will stretch your mind and teach you something while still having a story line I highly recommend you pick this book up.