Adam Higginbotham

A New York Times Best Book of the Year A Time Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Finalist One of NPR’s Best Books of 2019 Journalist Adam Higginbotham’s definitive, years-in-the-making account of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster—and a powerful investigation into how propaganda, secrecy, and myth have obscured the true story of one of the twentieth century’s greatest disasters. Early in the morning of April 26, 1986, Reactor Number Four of the Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station exploded, triggering history’s worst nuclear disaster. In the thirty years since then, Chernobyl has become lodged in the collective nightmares of the world: shorthand for the spectral horrors of radiation poisoning, for a dangerous technology slipping its leash, for ecological fragility, and for what can happen when a dishonest and careless state endangers its citizens and the entire world. But the real story of the accident, clouded from the beginning by secrecy, propaganda, and misinformation, has long remained in dispute. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews conducted over the course of more than ten years, as well as letters, unpublished memoirs, and documents from recently-declassified archives, Adam Higginbotham has written a harrowing and compelling narrative which brings the disaster to life through the eyes of the men and women who witnessed it firsthand. The result is a masterful nonfiction thriller, and the definitive account of an event that changed history: a story that is more complex, more human, and more terrifying than the Soviet myth. Midnight in Chernobyl is an indelible portrait of one of the great disasters of the twentieth century, of human resilience and ingenuity, and the lessons learned when mankind seeks to bend the natural world to his will—lessons which, in the face of climate change and other threats, remain not just vital but necessary.

The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster

Midnight in Chernobyl

The best English language account of the Chernobyl accident. The effort Higganbotham put into this book is reason enough to give it a shot. Couple this with the “Chernobyl” mini-series on HBO and you’ll have a new Roman Empire to obsess over. 

Jack Lucie

This was so comprehensive and fascinating. I really appreciate Adam’s storytelling style. He balances that line of using facts that feel like textbook into an engaging narrative, very little self insert. The eye witness accounts were so well done and I appreciated that there was very little about the global scale/perception and more of what was literally happening on the ground and within the Soviet Union as I feel many resources in the US have that lens/bias. 

I read Adam’s book about the Challenger disaster before this one and thought it was better quality in pacing and the individual stories weaved together, easier to follow and recall the singular people, than this book so I did give this one 4 stars. Also because there was way overuse of descriptions of people’s hair when not relevant. I’m not talked about effects of radioactivity exposure, just like if any man was bald or balding we were going to hear about it and why??  But overall I would definitely recommend this especially via audio. 

Abigail

This was so comprehensive and fascinating. I really appreciate Adam’s storytelling style. He balances that line of using facts that feel like textbook into an engaging narrative, very little self insert. The eye witness accounts were so well done and I appreciated that there was very little about the global scale/perception and more of what was literally happening on the ground and within the Soviet Union as I feel many resources in the US have that lens/bias. 

I read Adam’s book about the Challenger disaster before this one and thought it was better quality in pacing and the individual stories weaved together, easier to follow and recall the singular people, than this book so I did give this one 4 stars. Also because there was way overuse of descriptions of people’s hair when not relevant. I’m not talked about effects of radioactivity exposure, just like if any man was bald or balding we were going to hear about it and why??  But overall I would definitely recommend this especially via audio. 

Lamia Hajani

A good blow by blow account of what happened at Chernobyl. I found it hard to remember who each person was and found myself referring to the character index often.

altlovesbooks

"Satan sleeps beside the Pripyat."

I knew of the Chernobyl disaster, but this book showed I didn't know nearly as much as I thought I did. Well researched, well told, it read like a thriller with the play-by-play of a biography or memoir. I really appreciated the history and backstory behind the disaster, because I think a lot of what went on could be blamed on the Soviet-era hubris at the time and the willingness to overlook pesky things like safety measures and proper construction to save perceived face on a global scale. 

I also really liked the structure of the book as a whole, where each chapter was dedicated to one part of what ends up being a very complex whole. It does seem to jump around a bit, particularly in the beginning, but with each chapter focused on a particular topic related to the disaster I feel like it was necessary to get the whole story. Chapter highlights for me included the 6 chapters dedicated to the day of and days following the event, discussion on The China Syndrome, Inside Hospital Number Six, and The Elephant's Foot. There's some really great stuff in this book.

Highly recommend to anyone interested in reading about this catastrophic event, or if you're looking for a good, gripping nonfiction book.

Wynter

Emotionally charged and thoroughly researched, Midnight in Chernobyl is the one book you need to read about the terrifying nuclear disaster of 1986. It’s important to draw lessons from mistakes made by a regime and scientists that were too confident in their knowledge, and to recognize the sacrifice done by ordinary people whose heroism would otherwise stay unknown to the wider audience. It will make even the most hardened reader weep.

This story is more than a story of a world defining disaster. It is a story of high-minded, peace seeking people whose outlook on life was ground to dust under an unwieldy bureaucracy. A story about how a ruthless and uncaring march towards a manufactured future will, not could, leave people broken in more ways than one. 

Eric Cheatham

Chilling. 

This story is more than a story of a world defining disaster. It is a story of high-minded, peace seeking people whose outlook on life was ground to dust under an unwieldy bureaucracy. A story about how a ruthless and uncaring march towards a manufactured future will, not could, leave people broken in more ways than one. 

Lacy W

A special thank you goes out to Netgalley and Simon and Shuster for allowing me to read this early. All thoughts and opinions are my own!

First Thoughts
I went on a nonfiction phase for a while and requested quite a few nonfiction books on Netgalley. This was one of them because it combined my interest of nonfiction and my love for Russian history. If you do not all know, I am a fan of Russian history. I prefer tsarist Russia (so like Catherine the Great and Tsar Nicholas Romanov) but I’ll take any Russian history and I’ve always been interested in the Chernobyl incident since I watched the Chernobyl Diaries. This book piqued my interest for sure.

Readability
One of the first things I look for in nonfiction books is readability. If the book isn't easily understood then I’m not going to enjoy it no matter how interest the subject of the book may be. This book was pretty easy to read for the most part. It lost me here and there with the science aspects but honestly that’s to be expected with me. I also had a bit of trouble pronouncing the Russian names and keeping them all straight. 

Content
Normally, I would put plot here but with nonfiction books there isn’t really a plot. The content was incredibly insightful. No stone was left unturned and everything was discussed. I’m honestly surprised that things were not worse considering just how much secrecy was going on. 

I mean honestly. The Russians were so secretive about everything even though things were happening outside the country and the Russians were like “NOPE! Nothing to see here!” it was beyond frustrating to read. People were getting incredibly sick and no one beside government officials knew why. I was just seeing red during that part of the book.

Trigger Warnings
The trigger warning here aren't too terrible. It’s mostly graphic descriptions of burns and injuries that are bound to come with nuclear activity. It's sprinkled throughout the book as the author keeps checking up on the people who were injured. There is also trigger warnings for death. 

Final Thoughts
Overall, this was fantastic. I learned quite a bit about this incident. I also learned about radioactivity and how dangerous it is. I will certainly be checking out more from this author and more about this incident.

Shona Tiger

Very long and complex read, with a bewildering cast of characters. (Could probably have been simplified a bit.) 4.5

Kristen Claiborn

I absolutely loved this book! I have always been fascinated by the events on and after April 26, 1986 so I have read many books and watched many documentaries. This book provided one of the most comprehensive descriptions of what happened. I grew up with family in a similar field so I have always found anything to do with nuclear technology fascinating. This book shows how NOT to develop, build, and run a nuclear program. It blew my mind to find out just how inept the running of Chernobyl was and the consequences of that ineptitude. This truly was just a fantastic read.

Vivian

"A generation which ignores history has no past and no future."

A New York Times Best Book of the Year A Time Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Winner From journalist Adam Higginbotham, the New York Times bestselling “account that reads almost like the script for a movie” (The Wall Street Journal)—a powerful investigation into Chernobyl and how propaganda, secrecy, and myth have obscured the true story of one of the history’s worst nuclear disasters. Early in the morning of April 26, 1986, Reactor Number Four of the Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station exploded, triggering one of the twentieth century’s greatest disasters. In the thirty years since then, Chernobyl has become lodged in the collective nightmares of the world: shorthand for the spectral horrors of radiation poisoning, for a dangerous technology slipping its leash, for ecological fragility, and for what can happen when a dishonest and careless state endangers its citizens and the entire world. But the real story of the accident, clouded from the beginning by secrecy, propaganda, and misinformation, has long remained in dispute. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews conducted over the course of more than ten years, as well as letters, unpublished memoirs, and documents from recently-declassified archives, Adam Higginbotham brings the disaster to life through the eyes of the men and women who witnessed it firsthand. The result is a “riveting, deeply reported reconstruction” (Los Angeles Times) and a definitive account of an event that changed history: a story that is more complex, more human, and more terrifying than the Soviet myth. “The most complete and compelling history yet” (The Christian Science Monitor), Higginbotham’s “superb, enthralling, and necessarily terrifying...extraordinary” (The New York Times) book is an indelible portrait of the lessons learned when mankind seeks to bend the natural world to his will—lessons which, in the face of climate change and other threats, remain not just vital but necessary.

Ken Yuen

A good companion book for viewers of the TV series. I think the appeal of the TV series and book is that it works as a piece of horror. Often times, the viewer is more scared for the people in the story than the people themselves, who are often ignorant of the dangers of radiation. 

The truly scary thing is the system that set up this tragedy to happen, and whose focus on information suppression, scapegoating, and blind loyalty to the system worked to make the tragedy worse than it needed to be. While radioactive rain fell in Japan, the people who lived near the accident site would be mislead about the severity of the incident and even blocked from leaving by the KGB.

It's horribly fascinating. You have your heroic individuals who sacrifice their health to prevent further explosions. There are chapters that talk about the extent of radiation damage on the human body. There is another that focuses on the criminal investigation (scapegoating) of who is responsible. In both the TV series and book, there are stories of the killing of domestic animals, who were too radioactive to take with the fleeing humans.

It's a story of individual human cost in light of the larger scale indictment of the system that created the Chernobyl incident. It highlights the brutal system, the information manipulation, the obvious priority of pride and ego over the safety of a population. It shows how people act in a tragedy, for good or for ill.

Caroline Lewicki

An interesting, complicated read. I wanted to read this after watching the HBO mini-series "Chernobyl" and I'd highly recommend watching the show before reading the book. There are a lot of names (and they're all long eastern European names) and a lot of dates that can be difficult to follow in the book, but if you watch the HBO show first, you at least have a mental image of who and what is going on. The disaster at Chernobyl and the fallout after is fascinating and this is a great summary of events. The author does a good job of presenting facts with minimal personal opinion so you can formulate an opinion of your own. I really enjoyed it!

Imane

4.5 stars
What I liked the most about this book is the analysis of what led to this catastrophe from a socio-political perspective, on top of the detailed scientific explanation of the dramatic chain of event leading to the Reactor 4 explosion. There were a few lulls due to the sheer amount of information that needed to be conveyed to have the full picture but all in all, it was a tremendous, chilling account with insightful testimonials. 
I highly recommend the audiobook too! Great pacing from the narrator.

Jeni Enjaian

It did not actually take me this long to read the book. I originally checked out the book at the beginning of March but it took me a little too long to read it when I first go it and the e-book went back to the library automatically so I had to wait to get it again.

While I enjoyed this book and learned a lot about what happened in Chernobyl, Higginbotham's narrative format left a lot to be desired. I loved the first part of the book where Higginbotham slowly lead the reader towards the disaster, periodically jumping back in time to tell the history of the nuclear program in the Soviet Union or the background of key players in the disaster. The narrative still held together fairly well as Higginbotham detailed the aftermath and coverup. Once that ended, the narrative fell apart. I lost interest and finished only because I have a stubborn streak that will not let me abandon most books.

I also kept thinking of the "Scorpion" episode but that's my problem. :)

Emily C Peterson

This was really good. I only have a problem with remembering which person is which-- the names are all so similar :|

Jawahir M

Score: 4/5

When Higginbotham promised "The Untold Story" he delivered on that promise. This book was a complete eye opener and is fantastic to those who are intrigued by the tragedy of Chernobyl or even the flaws of the USSR political system.

I loved the way the book was written, the timelines were organized and gave a smooth consistent play-out of the events occurred. Every single person in the book was humanized and that in particular I highly liked. Unlike the tv show, there isn't this sense of "good vs evil" there are worse evils than others and I think it is a realistic albeit darker overview of the human being. Also the inside look of the "characters'" lives really made it that more authentic and genuine. 

As a mainly fiction and fantasy reader, the slow pace did deter me in the beginning but once I adapted to the writing style and pacing, this became a much more compelling read. I advise my fiction readers to do the same. 

This is a book that you'd need to take time to appreciate and fully understand the magnitude of what happened. But it's worth it.

Do I recommend?  Yes

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Nico J

Fascinated by Chernobyl and other nuclear stories and disasters throughout the ages, this felt like a must-read for me personally. Alongside this, I've been watching the new HBO series and it ended up being an interesting experience, as I felt the actors were cast extremely well and it was nice to have almost a companion piece alongside the book's journey, which was obviously a bit more labored. It has some technical knowledge that's a bit above my head, but the characters are fleshed out and real, and their flaws in the context of their lives as well as the reign of the Soviet Union makes sense. Recently I read about Gorbachev and it was also a heavy volume that provided ample historical context as well as a more holistic understand of all that was going on in the world at that time to contribute to a 360 degree environment of how this could all go on. Some of these tiny decisions, in a vacuum, seem incomprehensible. You feel angry at historical figures you don't know, because how could they be so idiotic? The truth is, history is full of these tiny decisions that contribute to altering a series of decisions.

This book definitely seems comprehensive, and photos are included. While there a lot of characters to keep track of, there are definitely key figures to watch for and this is where the show came in handy if only to contextualize some of them. I'd like to read about them individually, but some of them have no historical legacy, necessarily, until this exact situation. The description of what is happening is haunting, but also gives credit where it is due - the information about nature taking it over again is fascinating to me, and this is something that was also displayed after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nature comes back to claim its territory and in some cases is not left as ravaged by the radiation as we expect, or as humans seem to be. In that way, we're fragile. This book is a nearly minute-by-minute account of it and if you're as interested as I am, it's perfect for a languorous, agonizing read. 

I'm not old enough to have been alive when this happened, or at the very least was an infant, so in a way it seems so far removed from me personally even though the worst of it was occurring at the time of being brought into the world. I can't imagine how adults were processing the situation, especially being thousands of miles away. Wasn't aware of how far the radiation clouds ended up spreading and the chapters and details about the other countries and how many people were evacuated was new, or at least more clarified, information to me. It was must more than I realized - which is directly at odds with the "official" death toll and numbers published by the government in power at the time. The part I muse on is that there are probably more records somewhere, hidden or gagged, and some that were destroyed and will never be seen at all. There were likely thousands that died trying to stem the radiation flow and situation that have received no acknowledgment and nothing for their sacrifice. Something else that struck me as interesting was how varied the outcome could be for radiation poisoning - how some are immediately fatal and some end up defying it against all odds and living past it. The fact that some people lived at all considering how dangerous and powerful it was is shocking and unexpected. The idea that land, pines, animals, and objects can be imbued with this invisible poison is difficult to wrap my head around, and that it will be thousands or hundreds of years, if ever, before anything can go in this zone. To permanently alter and poison the very essence and makeup of something is terrifying on a deep level. 

This is a fantastic book overall. It's long, heavy, and you may have to put it down, but it's worth getting through. How you'll feel afterward is something worth experiencing if only to settle into it and think.

Lindsay

--THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER-- 'An invaluable contribution to history.' Serhii Plokhy, Evening Standard 'Tells the story of the disaster and its gruesome aftermath with thriller-like flair. Midnight in Chernobyl is wonderful and chilling ... written with skill and passion.' Luke Harding, The Observer 'Superb, enthralling and necessarily terrifying... every step feels spring-loaded with tension... extraordinary.' The New York Times The story of Chernobyl is more complex, more human, and more terrifying than the Soviet myth. Adam Higginbotham has written a harrowing and compelling narrative which brings the 1986 disaster to life through the eyes of the men and women who witnessed it firsthand. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews conducted over the course of more than ten years, as well as letters, unpublished memoirs, and documents from recently-declassified archives, this book makes for a masterful non-fiction thriller. Chernobyl has become lodged in the collective nightmares of the world- shorthand for the spectral horrors of radiation poisoning, for a dangerous technology slipping its leash, for ecological fragility, and for what can happen when a dishonest and careless state endangers not only its own citizens, but all of humanity. It is a story that has long remained in dispute, clouded from the beginning in secrecy, propaganda, and misinformation. Midnight In Chernobyl is an indelible portrait of history's worst nuclear disaster, of human resilience and ingenuity and the lessons learned when mankind seeks to bend the natural world to his will - lessons which, in the face of climate change and other threats - remain not just vital but necessary. Now, Higginbotham brings us closer to the truth behind this colossal tragedy.

Midnight in Chernobyl The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster

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