Chernobyl book cover and view of damage to nuclear reactor Photo: Penguin Books / Wikimedia Commons
Serhii Plokhy’s award-winning account of the nuclear catastrophe at Chernobyl is, according to the New York Review of Books, “a masterful account of how the USSR's bureaucratic dysfunction, censorship, and impossible economic targets produced the disaster and hindered the response.”
An animation showing the Chernobyl reactor lid lying on its side in the explosion crater. Overlaid are the pre-explosion position of the steam tanks, reactor hall floor and roof trusses. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
In Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy Plokhy lays out his argument that it was a disaster waiting to happen.
The tense hours in the lead up to the 1986 catastrophe, and the political fallout that occurred after it, are recounted in Serhii’s acclaimed survey of the events.
Having won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction 2018, Plokhy’s historical study has received fresh attention from viewers of the acclaimed HBO fictionalisation of the events, as they go in search of information to expand their understanding of what happened and why.
The largest peacetime nuclear disaster, Chernobyl now inspires tourists to visit, and Plokhy’s conversation with Toby Manhire brings the conversation up to date with reflections on both the resurgence of natural life in the irradiated zone, and the role of Chernobyl in hastening the end of the Soviet Union.
The nuclear frontier suddenly seemed less appealing territory to explore as a result of what happened.
And what does this historian, for whom the events of Chernobyl are woven into his memory of growing up in Ukraine, think about the HBO series?
Given that it’s a fictionalised version of the story, he’s impressed. Despite a recasting of some of the figures as either heroes or villains, when the reality was more ambiguous, Plokhy thinks it does a good job of explaining how the authoritarian tendency of the Soviet system towards secrecy set up the conditions in which the disaster could occur.
About the speakers
Serhii Plokhy and Toby Manhire Photo: NZ Festival of the Arts
Serhii Plokhy
Serhii Plokhy is the Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University. He has published in English, Russian and Ukrainian as well as having taught in Canada, Ukraine and the USA. His bestselling book Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction 2018. His latest book, Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front: An Untold Story of World War II was published in October 2019.
Toby Manhire
Toby Manhire is the editor of The Spinoff and the editor of a Spinoff book called The Spinoff Book, which is published in October. He was a staff journalist at The Guardian between 2000 – 2010.
Photo: NZ Festival of the Arts
This audio was recorded in partnership with the writers’ programme at the 2020 New Zealand Festival of the Arts in Wellington. https://www.festival.nz/
