Craig Nelson's "The Age of Radiance," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Age of Radiance: The Epic Rise and Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Era by Craig Nelson.

The entry begins:

If The Age of Radiance, a history of the Atomic Age from the birth of X-rays to the meltdown of Fukushima, were made into a movie, a great through line would be to focus on the women. Greer Garson did the American version of Marie Curie, relentlessly saintly and revered, but the reality is a Polish immigrant who arrived in Paris with 2 cents and turned herself into Madame Curie. No one does drive, ambition, and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps like Joan Crawford.

Marie's daughter Irene was no slouch in the drive department - her mom was the first woman to win a Nobel, and she was the second - so Reese Witherspoon.

The completely forgotten woman who discovered fission, Lise Meitner, deserves a big star who can glow while motionless...[read on]

Learn more about The Age of Radiance at the Scribner website.

My Book, The Movie: The Age of Radiance.

--Marshal Zeringue