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Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe. By Serhii Plokhy. New York: Basic Books, 2018. 404 pp. Notes. Index. Illustrations. Photographs. Maps. $32.00, hard bound.
In “Chernobyl,” History Professor and Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University, Serhii Plokhy, presents yet another definitive story of the worst nuclear disaster in history, arguing that Chernobyl was the straw that broke the Soviet Union's back, and laid the groundwork for Ukrainian political independence. Plokhy maintains that his account is based on new sources, which unfortunately are completely hidden in the endnotes, as the volume lacks a bibliography. The author spends a majority of the book's evocatively titled twenty-one chapters on recounting the events of April 1986 and beyond, in order to show that the Chernobyl tragedy was a direct result of Russian mismanagement. The book is written as a novel, which makes it readable, but also allows for a fair amount of poetic license. Some readers may enjoy this, others, myself included, cringe at the imprecision this technique encourages.
Plokhy's book is strongest where he presents the engagement of Ukrainian leaders in the post-disaster decision-making process (especially chapter 18): he evokes the confusion, frustration, and resentment among those grappling with decisions that affected the public,...