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The cover of Midnight in Chernobyl

Midnight in Chernobyl

Adam Higginbotham, 2019

How a flawed Soviet reactor exploded at Chernobyl in April 1986, the firefighters, soldiers and scientists who fought the disaster, and the secrecy that hid the truth.

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19 parts, about 34 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Shows how a reactor flaw its designers knew about and buried met a rushed safety test at night and produced catastrophe
  • Tracks how denial and secrecy climbed a hierarchy, delaying evacuation and pinning the blame on operators
  • A near minute by minute reconstruction following operators, firefighters, doctors and conscripted cleanup crews, and noting where accounts conflict

Who it is for

  • Engineers who work on safety critical systems
  • Managers who must carry bad news upward
  • Readers weighing the risks of nuclear power

What the summary covers

  1. Saturday, April 26, 1986: 4:16 p.m.1 min
  2. The Soviet Prometheus2 min
  3. Alpha, Beta, and Gamma1 min
  4. Friday, April 25, and the Secrets of the Peaceful Atom2 min
  5. Unit Control Room Number Four3 min
  6. Fire and denial at the plant3 min
  7. Moscow is told the reactor is intact2 min
  8. The evacuation of Pripyat2 min
  9. The Cloud2 min
  10. The China Syndrome2 min
  11. The Battle of Chernobyl1 min
  12. Inside Hospital Number Six1 min
  13. The Liquidators1 min
  14. The Investigation3 min
  15. The Sarcophagus2 min
  16. The Forbidden Zone1 min
  17. The Trial2 min
  18. The Elephant's Foot1 min
  19. A Tomb for Valery Khodemchuk2 min

Recommended by

  • Anne ApplebaumPulitzer Prize winning author of Gulag: A History
    Adam Higginbotham's brilliantly well-written Midnight In Chernobyl draws on new sources and original research to illuminate the true story of one of history’s greatest technological failures
  • Hampton SidesAuthor of In the Kingdom of Ice and On Desperate Ground
    Here is a triumph of investigative reportage, exquisite science writing, and heart-pounding storytelling.

About the author

  • Adam Higginbotham
    • British writer, born in Somerset in 1968.
    • His first book, Midnight in Chernobyl (2019), became an international bestseller translated into 25 languages.
    • He was the US correspondent for The Sunday Telegraph Magazine and editor in chief of The Face, and now lives in New York City.
    • His journalism has appeared in The New Yorker, Wired, Smithsonian and The New York Times Magazine.
    • His second book, Challenger (2024), won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction and the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction.

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