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  • Midnight in Chernobyl

  • The Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster
  • By: Adam Higginbotham
  • Narrated by: Jacques Roy
  • Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (202 ratings)

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Midnight in Chernobyl

By: Adam Higginbotham
Narrated by: Jacques Roy
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Publisher's Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

The dramatic untold story of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, based on original reporting and new archival research.

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 not only its own citizens, but all of humanity. 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Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews conducted over the course of more than ten years, as well as letters, unpublished memoirs, and documents from recently-declassified archives, Adam Higginbotham has written a harrowing and compelling narrative which brings the disaster to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 non-fiction 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.

©2019 Adam Higginbotham (P)2019 Penguin Audio
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic Reviews

An invaluable contribution to history... tells a compelling story exceptionally well. (Serhii Plokhy)

What listeners say about Midnight in Chernobyl

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great factual account of this true disaster

having lived in ukraine and visiting the site I wanted to know more.... this book is a cooking account of the actions of the brave in an effort to save the world.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant

Brilliant, scary, real. Couldn’t stop listening to it. Crazy to think this happened. So well presented.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Enlightening

A well researched book. Excellent detail. Harrowing at times, but fills in a multitude of gaps on people, personalities and politics.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Very detailed

I can’t imagine the amount of time and work that went into this. It’s a very detailed retelling of the events leading up to and long after the disaster. It examines many angles and goes into incredible detail. Some of the information of nuclear fission in an rbmk reactor at the beginning is a little dry but if you can get past that it’s very interesting.

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Highly Recommend

I, like everybody else, have been entranced by HBO's Chernobyl. Watching it, I realised how little I really knew about the disaster despite having spent untold hours wandering around in the fictional version of the Zone in the STALKER games.

Much like most people I imagine, I was kind of astounded by how huge a disaster it actually was, and how close it came to being so much worse. I kind of ran under the assumption that the HBO show was dramatised to a certain extent, because how could I have possibly not heard that there was a distinct possibility that Reactor 4 would explode again with the force of several atomic bombs? - but no, this actually occurred.

Higginbotham's writing is detached, which somehow makes it all the more impactful - dry descriptions of Pripyat firefighters experiencing 'violent diarrhea' in the days following the initial explosion, which was determined to be 'their intestines liquefying' is one example I'm going to have trouble forgetting.

As a companion to the show, Midnight in Chernobyl was excellent. I didn't plan it out that way, but events in the show as I watched it every few nights kind of lined up to the events in the book as I listened to it on my way to and from work, expanding and providing further detail, or refuting the more dramatised parts of the show. Legasov for example is portrayed a lot more heroic in the show, routinely martyring himself before the Communist Party for the good of all - whereas he was far more likely to toe the Party line in real life, and only repented soon before his death.

Midnight in Chernobyl is a fantastic in-depth exploration of the disaster - causes and repercussions, and it has certainly sparked interest in the topic for myself. An excellently written book, very well read by Jacques Roy. Highly recommend.

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One not to miss

Amazing story, highly recommended. would love another addendum given the current BS going down in Russia/Ukraine...

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fantastic, best mix of information & entertainment

my favourite book, on my favourite topic, I wish I knew this info before travelling to Chernobyl those years ago, Pripyat is far more interesting when you really know the history

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  • Vik
  • 22-03-2020

Amazing book with factual details

This book contains more factual details rather than the drama that comes with the TV series.
The author has done a great job giving the details regarding Pripyat and Chernobyl plant itself. Great listen.

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a shocking disaster, meticulously retold

I was 9 years old when the disaster happened, and still vividly recall the fear with which we learned about the nuclear fallout over our part of Europe. to heat the exact course of the accident, the causes of it, and the actions of so many hundreds of thousands afterwards was hugely educational, shocking, and also very sad. this is some of the best investigative pieces I've read in my entire life, I hugely recommend this one. Especially if you feel that nuclear energy is a viable alternative to our demand for more energy.

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Excellent

The best non fiction historical account I’ve ever read. A fantastic achievement and well recommended.

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