Basic Books
Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe
Key Metrics
- Serhii Plokhy
- Basic Books
- Paperback
- 9781541617070
- 8.2 X 5.4 X 1.3 inches
- 0.8 pounds
- History > Russia & the Former Soviet Union
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
On the morning of April 26, 1986, Europe witnessed the worst nuclear disaster in history: the explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Soviet Ukraine. Dozens died of radiation poisoning, fallout contaminated half the continent, and thousands fell ill.
In Chernobyl, Serhii Plokhy draws on new sources to tell the dramatic stories of the firefighters, scientists, and soldiers who heroically extinguished the nuclear inferno. He lays bare the flaws of the Soviet nuclear industry, tracing the disaster to the authoritarian character of the Communist party rule, the regime's control over scientific information, and its emphasis on economic development over all else.
Today, the risk of another Chernobyl looms in the mismanagement of nuclear power in the developing world. A moving and definitive account, Chernobyl is also an urgent call to action.
Author Bio
Serhii Plokhy is author, teacher, and historian and specializes in the history of Eastern Europe with a special focus on Ukraine.
He is Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University and Director of Ukrainian Research Institute.
Professor Plokhy's research interests include the intellectual, cultural, and international history of Eastern Europe, with an emphasis on Ukraine and teaches courses and seminars on early modern and modern East European history that engage major problems in the history of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Poland, and Lithuania.
His select list of publications include
- The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine Basic Books (2015)
- The Last empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union Basic Books (2015)
- The Cossack Myth: History and Nationhood in the Age of Empires Cambridge University Press (2012)
- Yalta: The Price of Peace Viking/Penguin (2010; 2011)
- Ukraine and Russia: Representations of the Past University of Toronto Press (2008)
- The Origins of the Slavic Nations: Premodern Identities in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus Cambridge University Press (2006)
Source: Harvard University Department of History
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