Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy - Hardcover

An insightful and important book, that often reads like a good thriller, and that exposes the danger of mixing powerful technology with irresponsible politics (Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens)

The first comprehensive history of the Chernobyl disaster. . . here at last is the monumental history the disaster deserves (Julie McDowall The Times)

A work of deep scholarship and powerful stroytelling. Plokhy is the master of the telling detail (Victor Sebestyen Sunday Times)

This history reads like an academic thriller written by Malcolm Gladwell. Without losing any detail or nuance, Plokhy has a knack for making complicated things simple while still profound. As moving as it is painstakingly researched, this book is a tour de force and a cracking read (Viv Groskop Observer)

A compelling history of the 1986 disaster and its aftermath. . . Plokhy's well-paced narrative plunges the reader into the sweaty, nervous tension of the Chernobyl control room (Daniel Beer Guardian)

Plokhy's range, from scene-setting and character-sketching to hard science and political analysis, is near-Tolstoyan. His voice is humane and inflected with nostalgia (Roland Elliott Brown Spectator)

Plokhy, a Harvard professor of Ukrainian background, is ideally placed to tell the harrowing story of Chernobyl. . . he has an immense knowledge of Russian and Ukrainian history and maintains the highest standards of scholarship (Tony Barber Financial Times)

An important work that offers a clear-eyed assessment of the disaster and its consequences. . . Plokhy tells the story with great assurance and style, and the majority of his material appears here for the first time in English (Tobie Mathew Literary Review)

Serhii Plokhy is uniquely qualified to tell this tragic story: he writes not only as a major historian, but also as someone who was living with his family under the cloud of the Chernobyl disaster at the time. The result is as riveting as a novel (Mary Elise Sarotte, author of The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall)

A meticulous account of the disaster - and how the Soviet authorities tried to cover it up. . . A worthy winner of this year's Baillie Gifford prize for nonfiction (Robbie Millen The Times Books of the Year)