The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women

This is a true horror story. Do not read before bedtime unless you want nightmares about jawbones literally falling apart and coming loose in a woman's mouth. While I think the book could have been a little shorter, it is a fascinating, sad and ultimately somewhat uplifting true story about the businesss world's willingness to lie, cover up and sacrifice women's lives for the sake of profit. While in the end the Radium Girls got some justice and set the stage for organizations like OSHA, the postscript and our own knowledge demonstrate that, in a lot of ways, not much has changed.

Next time I feel a little sick and don't feel like going to work, I'll remember Catherine Donohue, weighing less than 100 pounds and in constant pain, testifying at her bedside against the Radium Dial Company - and hopefully I'll buck up and stop whining.