MULTIPLE EXPOSURES: Chronicles of the Radiation Age

by Catherine Caufield ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 17, 1989

From Roentgen to radon's radioactive ""daughters,"" Caufield (In the Rainforest, 1985) charts the course of man's discovery of radioactivity for better and for worse. In a way it is a Promethean tale, in which the early discoverers were hailed as seizers of a new kind of fire for the benefit of mankind, only later realizing that that fire could devastate and kill, albeit slowly and insidiously. So we are reminded that Madame Curie died of aplastic anemia, that Edison's assistant died of X-ray-induced cancer. The story of the women who painted radium onto watch dials in the 1920's gets a chapter all itself. By that time, it was known that X-ray exposure posed a threat, but radium was still considered safe. Until recently, in fact, nearly every source of ionizing radiation, natural or man-made, was treated rather cavalierly. Of course, there was a realization of danger, but the issues--how much exposure, how it added up, how extensive or long-lasting was nuclear bomb fallout, how long delayed might be the medical consequences--were never really resolved; all that can be said is that over time the limits of radiation exposure of workers have been lowered. In tracing the history of regulation, Caufield pulls no punches about the role of government and international agency spokespeople in playing fast and loose with the truth, denying claims, and painting a rosier picture than their scientific opponents. Her descriptions of natural radiation, of potential (and real) accidents on land or in space, and of unnecessary exposures in medicine only add to the gloom. Caufield is not an alarmist. She persuades more by a careful chronology and statistical detail (at times wearying) that buttress the book's credibility and its usefulness as a reference volume.

Pub Date: May 17, 1989

ISBN: 0226097854

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1989

Categories: NONFICTION