Journey to Chernobyl: Encounters in a Radioactive Zone - Softcover

Cheney, Glenn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 089733552X ISBN 13: 9780897335522

Publisher: Academy Chicago Publishers, 2007

Synopsis

Glenn Cheney arrived in Kiev during those first days when the Soviet Union ceased to exist and Ukraine was reborn. Almost immediately he found himself talking with scientist, journalist, refugees, engineers, top-level government officials, doctors, environmentalists, parents of sick children and people living just a few kilometers from the Chernobyl complex. He heard stories about the disaster that went far beyond what had appeared in the Western press. The reports of atrocities, epidemics, tyrannyand dispair blend with a most unsual travelogue, considerable humor and KGB intrigue.

About this title

Book Description:

Paperback edition with a new introduction by the author.

The name Chernobyl is now etched forever into human history. It was the scene of a man-made disaster, the full implications of which are still not known. Exactly what happened on April 26, 1986, remains a mystery. But when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the people of Ukraine were free at last to talk about what they knew. Glenn Cheney‹who has traveled widely‹spent more than six weeks in the Chernobyl area, arriving in Kiev during those first days when Ukraine became independent. From almost his very first day, he talked with scientists, journalists, refugees, engineers, top-level government officials, doctors, environmentalists, parents of sick children and people living just a few kilometers from the Chernobyl complex. He heard stories about the disaster that went far beyond what was reported in the Western press: the terrifying evacuation of Pripyat, a nearby city; bureaucratic bungling, falsification and destruction of data; the dangers of ³Chernobyl AIDS² that may be indirectly killing thousands of people; and the inevitability of future accidents. This is a look at Chernobyl from a unique perspective: reports of atrocities, epidemics, tyranny and despair blend with a most unusual travelogue, including close relationships and even KGB intrigue.
 Cheney¹s very simple, very human voice alternately exudes humor and horror. The total effect is of an unpretentious person peering into an abyss of death and corruption.

 

About the Author:

Glenn Cheney is also the author of more than fifteen works of non-fiction and fiction, including: They Never Knew: The Victims of Nuclear Testing (1996); Nuclear Proliferation: Problems and Possibilities (1998), and Journey on the Estrada Real: Encounters in the Mountains of Brazil (2003). He lives in Connecticut with his wife.
 

About this edition

• Publisher: Academy Chicago Publishers
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 089733552X
• ISBN 13: 9780897335522
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 194