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Born in 1906, she is an outstanding scientist with more than 400 peer-reviewed papers to her name and someone who has taken courageous and effective stands on public issues. Yet her controversial work lies at the center of a political storm and so has only relatively recently begun to receive significant attention.\par\pard\s1\sa100\sb100\li0\plain\fs24 For more than forty years, Stewart has warned that low-dose radiation is more dangerous than has been acknowledged. While teaching at Oxford in the 1950s she began research that led to the discovery that fetal x-rays double the child's risk of developing cancer. As a result, doctors no longer x-ray pregnant women. Two decades later--when she was in her seventies--she again astounded the scientific world with a study showing that the U.S. nuclear weapons industry is about twenty times more dangerous than safety regulations permit. The finding put her at the center of the international controversy over radiation risk. In recent years, she has become one of a handful of independent scientists whose work is a lodestone to the anti-nuclear movement. In 1990, the New York Times called her "perhaps the Energy Department's most influential and feared scientific critic."\par\pard\s1\sa100\sb100\li0\plain\fs24\i1 The Woman Who Knew Too Much\plain\fs24 traces Dr. Stewart's life and career from her early childhood in Sheffield to her medical education at Cambridge to her research positions at Oxford and the University of Birmingham. The book joins a growing number of biographies of pioneering women scientists such as Barbara McClintock, Rosalind Franklin and Lise Meitner and will find a wide range of appreciative readers, including those interested in the history of science and technology and of the history of women in science and medicine. Activists and policy makers will also find the story of Alice Stewart compelling reading.\par\pard\s1\sa100\sb100\li0\plain\fs24 Gayle Greene is Professor of Women's Studies and Literature, Scripps College. She is the author of \plain\fs24\i1 Changing the Story: Feminist Fiction and the Tradition; Doris Lessing: The Poetics of Change\plain\fs24 and coeditor of \plain\fs24\i1 Making a Difference: Feminist Literary Criticism\plain\fs24 .\par\pard\s1\sa100\sb100\li0\plain\fs24 Visit {\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.alicestewart.org/"}{\fldrslt\pard\s1\sa100\sb100\li0\plain\fs24\cs16\cf1\ul www.alicestewart.org}}\plain\fs24\plain\fs24 for selections from the book, photos, and reviews.\par\pard}
Customer Reviews:
"Truth is the daughter of time".......2005-09-15
"Truth is the daughter of time", a saying used by Alice Stewart, cannot come soon enough in this era.
Gayle Greene should be held in the highest esteem for the eloquent presentation of Alice Stewart's quest for truth. Her writing is crisp and unencumbered, and it hold the reader's interest into the life of this feisty, humorous, brilliant woman. Dr. Stewart, just by being of the female gender, found it hard to be taken seriously, and it was not until late in her life that she was honored for a life of accomplishment and dedication. A simple woman born to parents who were both doctors; doctors who put their patients ahead of money and power.
It was a tenet to be carried on by their daughter, Alice Stewart, who never gave up trying to educate the public about radiation proliferation. Thanks to her, thousands of babies were saved from the horrors of exposure to radiation when the medical profession listened to what she had to say about xraying during the first trimester.
Later Alice was funded to examine the effects of radiation on works who handled nuclear materials and weaponry. When her message was not what the AEC and others wanted to hear or receive, they tried to confiscate her work and cut her funding. Indeed, the funding was cut off, but she managed to secure her work and continue its research. Gayle Greene's writing abilities are able to give you the sense of Dr. Stewart's anguish and frustration.
The Woman Who Knew Too Much is a classic example of the control of information which the public direly needs, but which is buried and censored. This book, though written several years ago, is as pertinent as if it were published yesterday, and it should be read by all who are interested in the welfare of humanity. The inclusion in a science or social studies curriculum of the developing minds of students would be a well-deserved legacy for this wonderful woman who died in 2002 at the age of 96.
Courage and Integrity in Science: A Precious Rarety.......2000-02-21
Courage and Integrity in Science: A Precious Rarety
The Woman Who Knew Too Much: Alice Stewart and the Secrets of Radiation by Gayle Greene. Dr. Stewart is a British physician and epidemiologist (born in 1906 into a large family of physicians) who revolutionized the concept of radiation risk. In the 1950s, while surveying childhood mortalities in the British Isles, she finds that then quite common X-ray examinations during pregnancy doubled the risk for childhood cancer. Fueled by the wrath of radiologists, her work has been viciously derided among the medical establishment for more than two decades. In the 1970s, she finds that some workers at nuclear weapons production sites, such as Hanford, WA or Oakridge, TN are dying of radiation induced cancers, showing that presumed "safe" levels of occupational exposures put these workers at a twenty times higher risk than officially admitted. With that finding she places herself on the "enemy list" of an immensely powerful nuclear weapons establishment, including its scientific elite, and at the center of an international controversy over radiation risks. Stewart's fascinating story, a collaborative memoir told by herself and Greene with verve and humor, is one of a woman scientist's ingenuity, independence, perseverance, compassion, and integrity, a fascinating tale in the checkered history of a mostly male-dominated science. Rudi H. Nussbaum, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Physics and Environmental Science.
Fascinating insight into the history of radiation & medicine.......2000-02-14
The book spans the lifetimes of Dr. Stewart and her parents. It offers a fascinating description of medicine in Britain in the late 19th century, the entry of women into the medical field, and the institutional resistance in the second half of the 20th century to the fact that low levels of radiation are dangerous. Given the recent announcements by the US Government concerning health risks in the nuclear arms industry, this is a timely and fascinating book. Well written and researched.
Have your children, your daughters must, read this book........2000-01-26
As Research Director of the Hanford Veterans Cancer Mortality Study I have worked closely with Dr. Alice Stewart. I have learned from her, laughed with her and admired her as the most extraordinary human being I have ever known. But, I never knew her well enough. You must read this book! It will give you a new understanding of the meaning of courage and integrity. More importantly - have your children, especially your daughters, read this book. Thank goodness Gayle Greene has written this eminently readable biography of Alice. It allows us to understand where her drive comes from and how Dr. Stewart can suffer the slings and arrows of the federal scientific pygmies who attack her work. The heart of the story, and a key to Dr. Stewart's personality, can be found in the juxtaposition of the the ending words of Chapter 13 where Professor Greene says "Alice is called in by...radiation victims, her investigations turn up cancer in excess ... the studies are handed over to official bodies...the official studies invoke the A-bomb data to discredit her finds....Time passes." `It's a long, slow business,' she (Dr. Stewart) says." Compare this with one of Dr. Stewart's favorite quotations, "truth is the daughter of time." She has waited, we will wait; but Dr. Helen Caldicott is right "her work may (I say `will') receive the recognition and thanks of the future." When one finishes reading this marvelous book one cannot help but think of George Sand saying "humanity is outraged in me and with me. We must not dissimulate nor try to forget this indignation; which is one of the most passionate forms of love." Thank the Good Lord for this stunning creature called Alice Stewart. And thank Gayle Greene for helping us to know her just a bit better.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc. on July 1, 2000. The length of the article is 1581 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: The Woman Who Knew Too Much: Alice Stewart and the Secrets of Radiation.(Review) (book review)
Author: Tara O'Toole
Publication:
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (Refereed)
Date: July 1, 2000
Publisher: Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc.
Volume: 56
Issue: 4
Page: 66
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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Single Woman Homesteader
Cox Leona Dixon
Manufacturer: Authors Choice Press
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ASIN: 0595161707
Release Date: 2001-01-01 |
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The life of an independent woman spans the twentieth century including the Great Depression, homesteading, hunting, exploring nature and thriving as a rancher.
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- shallow account of a great life.
- You've Got to Love Ben!
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
- America's Original Genuis
- Seriously...
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Autobiography and Other Writings (Oxford World's Classics)
Benjamin Franklin
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Way to Wealth
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Benjamin Franklin's the Art of Virtue: His Formula for Successful Living
ASIN: 0192836692 |
Book Description
Benjamin Franklin's writings represent a long career of literary, scientific, and political efforts over a lifetime which extended nearly the entire eighteenth century. This edition provides a new text of the Autobiography, established with close reference to Franklin's original manuscript. It also includes a new transcription of the 1726 journal, and several pieces which have recently been identified as Franklin's own work.
Customer Reviews:
shallow account of a great life........2007-03-10
no doubt about it: ben franklin was a bright fellow. brigher than me, for instance. his autobiography, however, and despite what people on amazon are saying, is a shallow piece of fluff. nothing is touched in depth as he skims from one episode to the next like he is racing to finish an unimportant task. his wife? his family? forget them. all people in his life, in fact, seem deserving of no deep consideration to mr franklin. at times he brags about himself under the guise of modesty, and it is both silly and annoying. plenty of excellent biograhy work out there on this man, and one would be much better served to pick up one of those. it simply boggles my mind that anyone could consider this a 5 star piece of literature. there is not the slightest bit of passion in this writing. mr franklin doesn't even seem terribly interested in what he is writing about. amazon reveiwers seem to award 5 stars to almost anything they read, without the slightest trace of critical detachment. yes, this is a book you would not be wasting your time reading, simply because these are the words of benjamin franklin, but that's it. this is not great literature. not even close.
You've Got to Love Ben!.......2007-01-05
As everyone else has noted, Ben was a brilliant man and an entertaining writer. This is classic American literature, particularly in how it shows a "character" striving to rise up and better himself because that is the promise of the American Dream.
I docked Ben one star because the unfinished ending is not satisfying to someone who comes across this book for the first time. Just so you know, if you get lost during the third part, Ben is discussing the French Indian War.
The Dover edition is very nice and anyone should be satisfied with it.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.......2006-04-17
Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography creates a portal into the mind of one of America's greatest minds. Not only did Franklin play a pivotal role in the development of our nation but he also made huge advancements in the field of electricity. His descriptions of experiences such as the famous kite experiment grant some understanding of just how remarkable these revelations were in the mid-1700s. His subsequent invention of the lightning rod, something taken for granted today, is fascinating to read about in his own words. Learning about the electrical innovations that Franklin made, written in his own words and in the language of the period offers a unique approach to the subject of electricity. The fact that Franklin managed to accomplish all of these feats in addition to playing the role as a Founding Father is astounding and only adds to the significance of the his individual successes.
America's Original Genuis.......2006-03-22
Ben Franklin details his interesting life in his own words. If you want an investment guide, self-help book, historical read, business primer, and a look into the life of an American original, this is it, all in one medium length book. Some readers will find the phrasing antiquated, and sentence structure longer than normal. A small quibble that reflects more upon our modern age than the work itself. Highly recommended.
Seriously..........2006-03-02
Seriously... anybody that rates this book anything other than 5 stars is a complete idiot. He is a hero.
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- Franklin's informal account of his remarkable life
- The soul of the American pragmatic spirit
- Franklin in his own words
- The First American
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The Autobiography and Other Writings (Penguin Classics)
Benjamin Franklin , and
Kenneth A. Silverman
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
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ASIN: 0142437603
Release Date: 2003-04-29 |
Book Description
Edited with an Introduction by Kenneth A. Silverman
Customer Reviews:
Franklin's informal account of his remarkable life.......2007-06-12
In many ways, this is, to someone coming to it for the first time, a very surprising book. For one thing, it is amazingly incomplete. Franklin is, of course, one of the most famous Americans who ever lived, and his accomplishments in a wide array of endeavors are a part of American lore and popular history. A great deal of this lore and many of his accomplishments are missing from this account of his life. He never finished the autobiography, earlier in his life because he was too busy with what he terms public "employments," and later in life because the opium he was taking for kidney stones left him unable to concentrate sufficiently. Had Franklin been able to write about every period of his life and all of his achievements, his AUTOBIOGRAPHY would have been one of the most remarkable documents every produced. It is amazingly compelling in its incomplete state.
As a serious reader, I was delighted in the way that Franklin is obsessed with the reading habits of other people. Over and over in the course of his memoir, he remarks that such and such a person was fond of reading, or owned a large number of books, or was a poet or author. Clearly, it is one of the qualities he most admires in others, and one of the qualities in a person that makes him want to know a person. He finds other readers to be kindred souls.
If one is familiar with the Pragmatists, one finds many pragmatist tendencies in Franklin's thought. He is concerned less with ideals than with ideas that work and are functional. For instance, at one point he implies that while his own beliefs lean more towards the deistical, he sees formal religion as playing an important role in life and society, and he goes out of his way to never criticize the faith of another person. His pragmatism comes out also in list of the virtues, which is one of the more famous and striking parts of his book. As is well known, he compiled a list of 13 virtues, which he felt summed up all the virtues taught by all philosophers and religions. But they are practical, not abstract virtues. He states that he wanted to articulate virtues that possessed simple and not complex ideas. Why? The simpler the idea, the easier to apply. And in formulating his list of virtues, he is more concerned with the manner in which these virtues can be actualized in one's life. Franklin has utterly no interest in abstract morality.
One of Franklin's virtues is humility, and his humility comes out in the form of his book. His narrative is exceedingly informal, not merely in the first part, which was ostensibly addressed to his son, but in the later sections (the autobiography was composed upon four separate occasions). The informal nature of the book displays Franklin's intended humility, and for Franklin, seeming to be so is nearly as important as actually being so. For part of the function of the virtues in an individual is not merely to make that particular person virtuous, but to function as an example to others. This notion of his being an example to other people is one of the major themes in his book. His life, he believes, is an exemplary one. And he believes that by sharing the details of his own life, he can serves as a template for other lives.
One striking aspect of his book is what one could almost call Secular Puritanism. Although Franklin was hardly a prude, he was nonetheless very much a child of the Puritans. This is not displayed merely in his promotion of the virtues, but in his abstaining from excessiveness in eating, drinking, conversation, or whatever. Franklin is intensely concerned with self-governance.
I think anyone not having read this before will be surprised at how readable and enjoyable this is. I think also one can only regret that Franklin was not able to write about the entirety of his life. He was a remarkable man with a remarkable story to tell.
The soul of the American pragmatic spirit .......2005-10-31
For many this is this Letter of advice from Franklin to his son is the perfect embodiment of wisdom of American business success. For D.H.Lawrence however it showed the 'shop-keeping ' lack of soul, of Franklin and he mocked him in his 'Classic Studies on American Literature'.
In this work Franklin creates and promotes the legend of himself. He is a great inventor, a fabulous pragmatist. He also tells the story of his own rise , and shows how hard work and going through times of difficulty with determination and strength are important.
The work contains much of the kind of pithy wisdom Franklin made himself known with in America through 'Poor Richard's Almanac'
It is not a full biography, and it of course omits many other sides of the mind and character of this complex genius.
Franklin in his own words.......2005-03-30
Personal letters of Franklin to his son which recounts his experiences in the fledgling republic which became America. Limited scope of writings prevent true insight and understanding of Franklin, but what is present shows the more personal side of him. Following his autobiography, a compilation of his other writings is included. As with any autobiography, caution against vanity is needed when reading, but not in Franklin's case. He does attempt to glorify his actions or a better image.
The First American.......2004-12-12
Having been impressed for some time by the life story of Benjamin Franklin, I thought it would be fun to read his autobiography, as well as the other writings found in The Autobiography and Other Writings. On the whole it was, but with some caveats. The autobiography itself seemed awfully short and jumpy coming from a man who wrote so much and so well. In the introductory notes I noticed that this particular work is in fact considered not representative of his style (or something to that effect, namely that it comes off as rather reserved). Having read this and the other pieces included in this short volume, I have to wonder if any piece of writing is truly representative of Franklin.
Perhaps this observation is a testament to his literary skills. After all, isn't it better to have a wide range of writing talents? It could be said that someone whose writings always sound the same is perhaps not showing a very broad range. I don't know. But in Franklin's case I think it's virtually impossible to pin down the typical Franklin style. This is, after all, a man who often wrote anonymously under various pseudonyms, for different purposes and for different audiences (and over a great many years). We can hardly expect to find the same style writing as Silence Dogood as a teen as in the Edict by the King of Prussia before the war. This is all, of course, a long-winded way of saying I don't know how to properly evaluate quickly the writings found in this volume. Their variety is the greatest thing they have in common.
But some things still manage to come out. Franklin is one of the wittiest writers of the era. He makes frequent clever observations and can cut to the chase in many memorable ways. Some pieces here are well known. I think virtually anyone would recognize some of the sayings in The Way to Wealth. On this particular piece I have to wonder what Franklin had in mind. Something seems very wrong in taking this essay at face value. Though composed almost entirely of one-liners taken from twenty-five years worth of Poor Richard's Almanacs, it does come off as a fussy and humorless work. One could easily criticize Franklin for hypocrisy, as his later life was one of expensive luxury. The only problem is that I don't think he meant any of it. I can't prove this, but I think The Way to Wealth was intended as a self-satire that failed to emphasize the satire. My two cents.
Anyway, I don't think it's worth expounding too long on a collection of writings that speaks better for itself than I ever could. It's short, well paced, and fun. Franklin's style is easier to get a handle on than most colonial era authors. And there aren't many more engaging personalities to dive into than Franklin's.
Book Description
Benjamin Franklin is one of the best known and least understood figures in the history of eighteenth-century political thought. Alan Houston clarifies our understanding of his thought by making available a representative selection of his most important political writings. The entire text of the Autobiography is included alongside letters, essays, pamphlets, and manuscript notes that cover political economy, moral psychology, and religious belief and practice, among other topics.
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Autobiography & Other Writings
Benjamin Franklin
Manufacturer: SIGNET BOOKS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Franklin, Benjamin
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ASIN: B000SEOQOY |
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Autobiography & Other Writings
Benjamin Franklin
Manufacturer: SIGNET BOOKS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Franklin, Benjamin
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ASIN: B000UDZE5S |
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Passion Marks: A Policewoman's Story
Taylor Lane Wingate
Manufacturer: 1st Books Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Specific Groups
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Women
| Specific Groups
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Women's Studies
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 140337080X |
Books:
- There It Is: A Canadian in the Vietnam War
- Time Present, Time Past: A Memoir
- Victoria's Daughters
- Whatever You Resolve To Be: Essays on Stonewall Jackson
- Where the Evidence Leads: An Autobiography
- White Slaves, African Masters: An Anthology of American Barbary Captivity Narratives
- Wild Bill: The Legend and Life of William O. Douglas
- Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy
- Wright Patman: Populism, Liberalism, & the American Dream
- A Charge to Keep
Books Index
Books Home
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- Fade Away
- Culinary Taste: Consumer Behaviour in the International Restaurant Sector
- Spatial Data Analysis: Theory and Practice
- Arrow's Theorem, the Paradox of Social Choice: Gender And the Politics of Schooling
- Fifth Life of the Catwoman
Walking Out on the Boys
The Scalpel and the Silver Bear: The First Navajo Woman Surgeon Combines Western Medicine and Traditional Healing
Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor
Luna Bars, Nutz Over Chocolate, 1.69-Ounce Bars (Pack of 15)
