Since 1994 Scottish-born Canadian photographer David McMillan (born 1945) has journeyed 21 times to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Inspired by his teenage memories of Nevil Shute's On the Beach (1957), a disturbing vision of the world following nuclear war, McMillan found in Pripyat the embodiment of an irradiated city still standing but void of human life. As one of the first artists to gain access to "The Zone," McMillan initially explored the evacuated areas with few constraints and in solitude, save for an occasional scientist monitoring the effects of radioactivity. Returning year after year enabled him to revisit the sites of earlier photographs--sometimes fortuitously, sometimes by design--bearing witness to the forces of nature as they reclaimed the abandoned communities. Above all, his commitment has been to probe the relentless dichotomy between growth and decay in The Zone.
"Engaging images accompany information about Pripyat. The combination of high-interest subject matter and light text is intended for students in grades 3 through 7"--
Pripyat: A City Overshadowed by Misfortune delves into the haunting history of Pripyat, a once-thriving Soviet city now abandoned in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. This comprehensive book explores the rise of Pripyat, the catastrophic explosion of Reactor No. 4, and the heart-wrenching evacuation of its residents. It examines the long-lasting environmental and human toll, the eerie transformation of the city into a ghost town, and the resurgence of nature within the exclusion zone. Ideal for readers fascinated by historical tragedies, nuclear energy, Soviet history, and environmental impact, this book provides an in-depth look at one of the most significant disasters of the 20th century. Discover the untold stories of survival, resilience, and the global legacy of Chernobyl in this gripping account. Perfect for history buffs, disaster enthusiasts, and those captivated by abandoned places, Pripyat: A City Overshadowed by Misfortune offers a detailed exploration of this poignant, tragic chapter in modern history.
A New York Times Best Book of the Year A Time Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Winner From journalist Adam Higginbotham, the New York Times bestselling “account that reads almost like the script for a movie” (The Wall Street Journal)—a powerful investigation into Chernobyl and how propaganda, secrecy, and myth have obscured the true story of one of the history’s worst nuclear disasters. Early in the morning of April 26, 1986, Reactor Number Four of the Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station exploded, triggering one of the twentieth century’s greatest disasters. In the thirty years since then, Chernobyl has become lodged in the collective nightmares of the world: shorthand for the spectral horrors of radiation poisoning, for a dangerous technology slipping its leash, for ecological fragility, and for what can happen when a dishonest and careless state endangers its citizens and the entire world. But the real story of the accident, clouded from the beginning by secrecy, propaganda, and misinformation, has long remained in dispute. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews conducted over the course of more than ten years, as well as letters, unpublished memoirs, and documents from recently-declassified archives, Adam Higginbotham brings the disaster to life through the eyes of the men and women who witnessed it firsthand. The result is a “riveting, deeply reported reconstruction” (Los Angeles Times) and a definitive account of an event that changed history: a story that is more complex, more human, and more terrifying than the Soviet myth. “The most complete and compelling history yet” (The Christian Science Monitor), Higginbotham’s “superb, enthralling, and necessarily terrifying...extraordinary” (The New York Times) book is an indelible portrait of the lessons learned when mankind seeks to bend the natural world to his will—lessons which, in the face of climate change and other threats, remain not just vital but necessary.
This book recalls the tragic fate of one young woman from Pripyat, as she struggles desperately to save the life of her only son. The vicissitudes of the first days and the first years after the Chernobyl catastrophe are shown vividly and precisely.
Max on the Internet meets a group of seekers who are recruiting people to travel to Pripyat. Max agrees by making a small contribution. To his surprise, his best friend Yuri will go with them. The first task will be to inspect the abandoned laboratory of the Jupiter plant, where computers for the military were previously made, but, as it turns out, the plant is under protection. After some time, Max finds out who his new friends are, and is very sorry that he agreed to go with them.
El goes on a trip to Chernobyl. In the legendary city in which the Chernobyl accident occurred in 1986. But he did not expect that he would fall a year before the accident and after. Will he be able to get out of there or get stuck there forever?
Most people in Pripyat never expected the day to come when theyÕd have to flee for their lives. The Soviet Union boasted about the safety of the nuclear city. But in 1986, one of the townÕs nuclear reactors exploded and released deadly radiation. This title explains the Chernobyl accident for curious readers.
A resident of Pripyat Artem Maskalenko, walking through the forest, suddenly falls into Pripyat, unknown to him. Around everything is abandoned and destroyed, trees grow everywhere. Wandering the streets of Pripyat, he realizes that here he is not alone. Someone or something is following him.
In the 11 days following the Chernobyl catastrophe on April 26, 1986, more than 116,000 people were permanently evacuated from the area surrounding the nuclear power plant. Declared unfit for human habitation, the Zones of Exclusion includes the towns of Pripyat (established in the 1970s to house workers) and Chernobyl. In May 2001, Robert Polidori photographed what was left behind in the this dead zone. His richly detailed images move from the burned-out control room of Reactor 4, where technicians staged the experiment that caused the disaster, to the unfinished apartment complexes, ransacked schools and abandoned nurseries that remain as evidence of those who once called Pripyat home. Nearby, trucks and tanks used in the cleanup efforts rest in an auto graveyard, some covered in lead shrouds and others robbed of parts. Houseboats and barges rust in the contaminated waters of the Pripyat River. Foliage grows over the sidewalks and hides the modest homes of Chernobyl. In his large-scale photographs, Polidori captures the faded colors and desolate atmosphere of these two towns, producing haunting documents that present the reader with a rare view of not just a disastrous event, but a place and the people who lived there.
