LocalLit book review: 'The Society of the Living Dead' by Jim Ridings

I am currently reading Jim Ridings' book "The Society of the Living Dead," a well-researched and heavily illustrated book about the Radium Dial scandal in Ottawa.

The book has so much information, much of it horrifying, it's impossible to digest all of it at once. This is a book that's best read a few pages at a time.

Here is the book's Amazon description: "'It will put pink cheeks on you.' That is what the managers of Radium Dial in Ottawa, Illinois, told the young women who painted radium on the faces of clock dials in the 1920s and 1930s.

"Instead, their teeth fell out and their jaws and bones disintegrated. Instead of putting pink in their cheeks, it put the women in their graves.

"The company knew the hazards of working with radium, but they took no safety precautions. They lied to the workers and they denied compensation to the victims. To avoid financial liability,

"Radium Dial closed its doors and reopened a few blocks away as Luminous Processes and continued its deadly work for another forty years. Radium Dial cared more about the health and profitability of its company than they cared about the health of the women who made the company profitable."

By now, many people have heard of this tragedy so close to home. But to digest and ponder on the details is another matter. Years after their deaths, Geiger counters positioned over the graves can still detect radium.

Readers will see photos of these women, and some of these photos are from their childhood and some show them in their caskets. They'll read a falsified autopsy report and anecdotes that will make your brain reel.

They'll see X-rays of "radium jaw," newspaper clippings, advertisements proclaiming the safety and wide uses of the products, statements from the company and gravestones of the workers.

Also included are letters from the women to their attorneys and family members, prescriptions from their doctors and firsthand accounts of their experiences,

If you think that's in the long past, you should read what happened to some of the workers who'd dismantled the Luminous Processes Inc. plant in downtown Ottawa in the 1980s.

One activist, Katie Troccoli, explained why she became involved.

"My dad was a World War II 82nd Airborne paratrooper. He taught me to speak up for those who can't speak up for themselves. He made three combat jumps, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and helped liberate Wobbelin concentration camp in Ludwigslust, Germany. If I had a bad day at school and complained, he would show me pictures of the concentration camp in the book "Saga of the All American." You can't grow up with that and be quiet with injustice."

Buy "The Society of the Living Dead" by Jim Ridings on Amazon.

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Contact Denise M. Baran-Unland at 815-280-4122 ordunland@shawmedia.com.

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