Review by Choice Review
A Soviet Ukrainian physician-author presents a brief and moving compilation of contemporary interviews with rescue and medical personnel struggling with the effects of Chernobyl disaster, administrators and evacuees from the affected area, and scientists groping to find answers to this unprecedented event. Shcherbak compares the impact of this event to the impact of WW II on the Soviet Ukraine. Originally published in Ukrainian, the text is translated rather literally, which probably accounts for its somewhat stilted English. Nevertheless, the surprise, the shock, the general level of unpreparedness, and the shortages of necessary instruments and equipment together with the lack of proper policy to cope with a disaster of such magnitude come through well. Equally vivid are descriptions of the heroic efforts of personnel who had not been properly forewarned about radiation dangers. Human failure in attending to complex technology appears to be the preliminary explanation of the scientists interviewed. The book is recommended first as an illustration of Soviet perception and reporting of an event that had major international repercussions and attracted worldwide attention. Second, the book is a timely reminder of what could happen elsewhere, if and when dangerous technologies begin to run away from their inattentive human controllers. General readers. -B. V. Maciuika, University of Connecticut
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In a workmanlike report heavily studded with eyewitness testimony, Ukrainian science writer Shcherbak offers a frightening closeup of the still-unfolding nuclear nightmare that rocked the Chernobyl power plant and the surrounding region in 1986. He interviewed victims of radiation sickness, townsfolk forced to evacuate the danger zone, fire fighters who helped avert a greater catastrophe, helicopter pilots, scientists, doctors, government officials. Besides capturing the disbelief, trepidation, anger and courage of ordinary people, the author (who is also a physician, novelist and conservationist) airs many questions that have nagged other observers within the U.S.S.R. and elsewhere, such as: Why did the evacuation take so long? Why weren't those who lived downwind fully apprised of potential hazards? This account concludes with a warning that nuclear plants must be made safer, yet it implicitly rejects a shutdown of the nuclear power industry. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
First published in the Soviet Union, this volume of eyewitness interviews of the 1986 Chernobyl tragedy stresses the heroism of the firemen, doctors, and rescue volunteers involved. The cause of the explosion, the initial cover-up attempt, and the less savory participants all get short shrift. Even so, a scary picture of isolated, indecisive, and sometimes derelict local authorities comes through with perfect clarity. This is well organized by a medically trained novelist and is an excellent companion to Robert Gale's memoir Final Warning ( LJ 5/15/88). But for smaller libraries Chernobyl: The End of the Nuclear Dream by London Observer reporters (Vintage: Random, 1987) is more comprehensive than either and a much better value.-- Robert Decker, Harriman Inst., Columbia Univ. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
