Friday, May 1, 2020

Disaster!: A Review of Midnight at Chernobyl

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
In the history of man-made disasters, none stick out so much in the popular imagination as the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, especially after the critically acclaimed HBO miniseries. This book, critically acclaimed in its own right, may be the definitive account one can read about the disaster today.

After more than a decade of research and interviews, Mr. Higginbotham expands the story beyond just the disaster itself. Instead, he starts with the building of Chernobyl back in the 1970s. Starting from this point, one sees the shoddy construction and corruption that went into the building of the reactor that made it the ticking time bomb that it was. He also presents a much more sympathetic picture of those at the heart of the disaster, particularly Dyatlov, Fomin, and Brukhanov. And he even includes as much of the Soviet scientific community as possible that worked tirelessly to contain the disaster. For fans of the HBO miniseries, some of the most memorable events are in this book, though some parts are not given as much attention. What was truly shocking to read though was just how many actions may have done absolutely nothing to contain the disaster.

What is a through line throughout this book as well as other major natural disaster books I have read is just how hard it can be for human beings to fully grasp what is going on when disaster strikes. Whether you're talking about The Johnstown Flood or The Great Mortality (i.e. the Black Death), it seems as though humans were not always built to fully understand the natural forces that can be unleashed abasing them. It took a while for many leaders in the Soviet Union to fully accept just how big of a disaster Chernobyl was, and Mr. Higginbotham does a good job of capturing that. While I would say that some parts can get technical and overwhelming, this is a shocking and enjoyable account of this pivotal moment in world history. As world leaders once again begin to ponder nuclear power's place in the world's energy market, books like this will be key to understanding just what the stakes are.


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