Midnight in Chernobyl

First edition (publ. Simon & Schuster)

Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster (2019) by Adam Higginbotham is a history of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that occurred in Soviet Ukraine in 1986. It won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction in 2020. Higginbotham spent more than a decade interviewing eyewitnesses and reviewing documents from the disaster, including some that were recently declassified.[1] Higginbotham considers it the first English-language account that is close to the truth.[1]

Reception

According to Book Marks, the book received "positive" reviews based on 10 critic reviews with 6 being "rave" and 2 being "positive" and 1 being "mixed" and 1 being "pan".[2] In Books in the Media, a site that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received 4.18 out of 5 from the site which was based on 6 critic reviews.[3] On Bookmarks Magazine May/June 2019 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a 4.0 out of 5 based on critic reviews with a critical summary saying, "Higginbotham meticulously documents the details of this disaster and its aftermath in a narrative that the New York Times critic attests is “superb, enthralling and necessarily terrifying” and unfurls with a “horrible inevitability."[4]

Awards and honors

References

  1. ^ a b Dawn Stover (May 5, 2019). "The human drama of Chernobyl". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
  2. ^ "Midnight in Chernobyl". Book Marks. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  3. ^ "Midnight in Chernobyl Reviews". Books in the Media. Archived from the original on 1 Dec 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  4. ^ "Midnight in Chernobyl" (PDF). Bookmarks Magazine. p. 33. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  5. ^ Jennifer Szalai (February 6, 2019). "An Enthralling and Terrifying History of the Nuclear Meltdown at Chernobyl". The New York Times. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
  6. ^ Associated Press (March 24, 2020). "Valeria Luiselli's 'Lost Children Archive' wins Folio Prize". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on December 26, 2023. Retrieved December 26, 2023.
  7. ^ Schaub, Michael (January 22, 2020). "Luiselli, Higginbotham Win ALA's Carnegie Medals". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on December 26, 2023. Retrieved December 26, 2023.


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