Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge ,from Amber Books Lmtd, via #Netgalley for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it. All opinions are my own.
Synopsis:
On 26 April 1986, the unthinkable happened near the Ukrainian town of Pripyat: two massive steam explosions ruptured No. 4 Reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, immediately killing 30 people and setting off the worst nuclear accident in history. The explosions were followed by an open-air reactor core fire that released huge amounts of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere for the next nine days, spreading across the Soviet Union, parts of Europe, and especially neighbouring Belarus, where around 70% of the waste landed. The following clean-up operation involved more than half a million personnel at a cost of $68 billion, and a further 4,000 people were estimated to have died from disaster-related illnesses in the following 20 years. Some 350,000 people were evacuated as a result of the accident (including 95 villages in Belarus), and much of the area returned to the wild, with the nearby city of Pripyat now a ghost town. Chernobyl provides a photographic exploration of the catastrophe and its aftermath in 180 authentic photos. See the twisted wreckage of No. 4 Reactor, the cause of the nuclear disaster; marvel at historic photos of the clean-up operation, with helicopters spraying decontamination liquid and liquidators manually clearing radioactive debris; see the huge cooling pond used to cool the reactors, and which today is home to abundant wildlife, despite the radiation; explore the ghost town of Pripyat, with its decaying apartment blocks, empty basketball courts, abandoned amusement park, wrecked schools, and deserted streets.
Review:
Da kid pretty much has a sub-major already in high school about WWII, but she has a strong minor in Nuclear Energy, so no surprise when this came across my desktop, she eagerly said "OOhh I'll review that one!" LOL
"WOW- this book really condenses into one book both the horror of what happened in 1986 and how nature will take back our land if we let it, giving beauty out of horror. There is SO SO SO much that went wrong and was covered up, that we are still finding out about today, It's hard for my generation to understand this, as we live in the 5 second society, where everything is broadcast on social media as soon as it STARTS occurring. But when Chernobyl happened, it was easy for authorities to lie to the people in the immediate area, both before they moved in and after the incident.
The author does a great job in alternating photos and text to make us understand both how large the community around the site was, and how average it was in many ways. But living on top of a nuclear reactor isn't ordinary, and the photos from right after the incident and modern day, let us see just how tragic the meltdown was. For those of us who have seen many Youtube/Tiktok episodes of the area, the book pictures may seem tame, but when compared to the before pictures, you understand what the author wants to convey. For anyone interested in this part of our collective history, this is a great book to start your education with!"
About the Author:
Michael Kerrigan was educated at St. Edward’s College and University College, Oxford, England. He is the author of The History of Death, A Dark History: The Roman Emperors, Ancients In Their Own Words, World War II Plans That Never Happened, and American Presidents: A Dark History. He is a columnist, book reviewer, and feature writer for publications including the Scotsman and the Times Literary Supplement. Michael Kerrigan lives with his family in Edinburgh.
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