A review by bub_9
Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy by Serhii Plokhy
3.0
I know this won the Baillie Gifford Prize, but.
Serhii Plokhy has written so many books in recent years, and while some people are just more filled with ideas than others, I do think that contributes to them sometimes feeling like the kind of stuff a business school professor would write, instead of a historian.
Some of the parts of the book were very interesting, like the personal, individual stories of the firefighters who responded to the Chernobyl disaster, as well as the idea of the aftermath - blame-shifting and responsibility, though I did think it was a bit of a stretch to then draw that line all the way to collapse and independence. Also, the epilogue was important, I think - a measured account of the dangers of nuclear energy.
For the most part, though, this was pretty dull because it was so superficial and narrative-driven; so little judgement or even explanatory accounts that one really skated over the words without gaining anything. For example, the dropping of sand lead - was it right or not? Plokhy only tells us that, as in every situation ever in human history, some wanted to and some didn't.
Serhii Plokhy has written so many books in recent years, and while some people are just more filled with ideas than others, I do think that contributes to them sometimes feeling like the kind of stuff a business school professor would write, instead of a historian.
Some of the parts of the book were very interesting, like the personal, individual stories of the firefighters who responded to the Chernobyl disaster, as well as the idea of the aftermath - blame-shifting and responsibility, though I did think it was a bit of a stretch to then draw that line all the way to collapse and independence. Also, the epilogue was important, I think - a measured account of the dangers of nuclear energy.
For the most part, though, this was pretty dull because it was so superficial and narrative-driven; so little judgement or even explanatory accounts that one really skated over the words without gaining anything. For example, the dropping of sand lead - was it right or not? Plokhy only tells us that, as in every situation ever in human history, some wanted to and some didn't.