First published 1993
On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded in catastrophic disaster. As panic and terror gripped the region, a desperate engineer sought a radiation reading, only to be told it was off the scale. Piers Paul Read's definitive account peels back the veil of secrecy, revealing acts of courage, bumbling confusion, and a government cover-up that betrayed its people. Through exclusive interviews and newly declassified documents, Read chronicles the untold human stories behind the world's worst nuclear accident.
Genres: history, science, 20th-century, non-fiction
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism
Setting: Pryp'i︠a︡tʹ, Pryp'ia͡tʹ, Ukraine
Period: 1986
256 pages · Hardcover · Random House