The Social Impact of the Chernobyl Disaster

by David R. Marples, Victor G Snell (Foreword)

A personal interpretation of the impact of the Chernobyl disaster both in the Soviet Union and the West, examining the environmental consequences, Soviet media coverage, reconstruction of life in the disaster zone (including the city built for Chernobyl workers) and safety changes in the industry.

Genres: History, Ukraine

331 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating is 3 only because of course this book was written within 2 years of the disaster and so is logically not up to date on any of the findings that have been made since its publication. Nonetheless, it has worth to read because of the feeling of immediacy that I felt it expressed. And there is historical interest in seeing how the various countries' governments did and did not interact on the disaster. I have just seen the HBO 5 part series on the disaster and more recent books on it are of course checked out of the local library.

I also need to state that I did not read the entire book. I was interested in the initial chapter on how/why the disaster happened and the immediate steps the Russian government took to solve its problems. No surprise there--I worked in bureaucracies and there is a sameness to all of them: disclaim responsibility, hide the negative PR as much as possible, etc.

I was interested in finding out about how the disaster affected individual civilian Ukrainians. The book did have some excerpts from interviews, but given its publication date there were not many interviews done or released. Nonetheless the overview the book gives on evacuation, disaster response to help individuals, and the new communities they were moved to or had built for them satisfied some of my curiosity. There are 9 photos illustrating the book.

Definitely an in-depth look at the event at the time of writing.