This book contains 100 fascinating and, at the same time, concise articles about the most important and interesting symbols of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone: from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the city of Pripyat, to individual monuments of the bygone Soviet era, like soda machines, pay phones, and other items that give an idea of the life of a typical successful 1980s Soviet town.
The reader will find out how the catastrophe happened; “walk” around abandoned military facilities, including the giant “Duga” radar; see the cemetery for equipment used by the accident liquidators; look into the apartments of Pripyat, abandoned the day after the terrible explosion; meet the giant catfish and the almost-tame fox Semyon, entranced by tourists; be horrified by how, after thirty years, the former city of the Soviet atomic scientists has decayed and been taken over by forest. Seeing dust-covered faded toys left by their small owners, rusty bumper cars in an amusement park forever frozen near the famous Pripyat Ferris wheel, joyful faces of pioneers looking from mosaic panels through thickets of poplars, the reader will understand how suddenly, tragically, and irreversibly the lives of tens of thousands of people were changed.
The articles in this unusual photo album were written by Exclusion Zone experts: an experienced stalker, authoritative environmental scientists, and a writer popular in the former USSR.
The editors tried to seriously prepare a high-quality English text, so all the articles were translated not just by a native speaker from the USA, but also by a Chernobyl Zone specialist who has been working in the field for 14 years.
The book will be interesting for both tourists visiting the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and for anyone who is interested in the history and consequences of the terrible event of April 26, 1986.
Meet the authors:
Kirill Stepanets (1988)
Stalker, researcher of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and Kyiv underground, tour guide, blogger. Graduated from the Higher Printing Vocational School (2007), Academy of Managers of Culture and Art (2013).
Author of the books “Chernobyl Zone Through a Stalker’s Eyes”, “Hidden Kyiv”, and others.
Victoria Ugryumova (1967)
Writer, essayist, genealogist, screenwriter. Author of 29 fiction and non-fiction books with a total circulation of 400,000 copies (foreign publications included), winner of Russian and international book awards. Screenwriter for “The Joker” (2010) and other television series. Author of articles and essays about Kyiv and its people. Contributor to numerous Sky Horse Publishing House projects.
Denis Vishnevskiy (1978)
Head of the radioecological monitoring group “Ecocenter.” He graduated from the biology department of International Solomon University. He has been working in the Exclusion Zone since 2000.
Co-author of the books “Chernobyl Zone Through a Stalker’s Eyes” and “Chernobyl: Real World.” He has collaborated with Animal Planet and National Geographic.
Sergey Paskevich (1972)
Graduated from the Ukrainian State Agrarian University. Candidate of Biological Sciences; Senior Researcher at the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. He has been working in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone since 1995. Author of more than 60 publications. Expert on radiation safety and environmental protection.
Creator of a Chernobyl Exclusion Zone GPS guidebook for smartphones. Author of the book “Chernobyl: Real World” and co-author of “Chernobyl Zone Through a Stalker’s Eyes.”