Introduction
History
has not been kind to Chernobyl. Some excellent
academic publications may exist somewhere, but the average
English-speaking reader is left to choose between various offerings in
the genre of 'entertaining non-fiction,' with all the
narrative-tinkering and sensationalism one would expect. The first hour
and twenty-four minutes of 26 April 1986 have been muddled, mythologized
and falsified to an astounding degree. Outside the Russophone former
Soviet Union, readers are especially susceptible to the information
pollution which the entire subject is drowning in. The only adequate
approach to this conundrum is a return to the essential primary sources
and eyewitness testimony--however flawed or ambiguous--which later
publications have paraphrased (or more often ignored). My aim is to
translate key passages from these sources, creating a curated account of
the accident that incorporates expert commentary and discussion of key
problems and controversies.
History
has not been kind to Chernobyl. Some excellent
academic publications may exist somewhere, but the average
English-speaking reader is left to choose between various offerings in
the genre of 'entertaining non-fiction,' with all the
narrative-tinkering and sensationalism one would expect. The first hour
and twenty-four minutes of 26 April 1986 have been muddled, mythologized
and falsified to an astounding degree. Outside the Russophone former
Soviet Union, readers are especially susceptible to the information
pollution which the entire subject is drowning in. The only adequate
approach to this conundrum is a return to the essential primary sources
and eyewitness testimony--however flawed or ambiguous--which later
publications have paraphrased (or more often ignored). My aim is to
translate key passages from these sources, creating a curated account of
the accident that incorporates expert commentary and discussion of key
problems and controversies.
I did not expect to find someone else with as much desire for precise and truthful reconstruction of the human side of Chernobyl, especially someone who was actually able to do it. The information provided here is already an order of magnitude more than most people will even hope for. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteAfter 9 frustrating months of trying to separate fiction from actual events, this is, I think, the best source of compiled information accessible for English readers. Thank you for this.
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