Includes bibliographical references (p. 205-207) and index.

Historical background on the Chernobyl disaster. The Chernobyl disaster / David R. Marples ; The development of the Soviet nuclear industry / David F. Duke ; Soviet secrecy in the face of calamity / Celestine Bohlen ; The Soviet myth of safety / Grigori Medvedev ; An economic catastrophe / Richard L. Hudson -- Controversies surrounding the Chernobyl disaster. Initial reports show the Soviet response to Chernobyl was successful / Richard Wilson ; Radiation exposure and negative health outcomes were underreported and underestimated / Glenn Alan Cheney ; Radiation exposure from the Chernobyl disaster was not as severe as expected / International Atomic Energy Agency ; Belarus absorbed the brunt of Chernobyl's radiation / Fred Weir ; Which country suffered the most from Chernobyl is unclear / Mary Mycio ; Russian and Belarusian officials continue to minimize the impact of Chernobyl / Yelena Starovoitova ; The Chernobyl disaster was the fatal blow to the USSR / Stephen Weeks ; Farming in the contaminated zones of Belarus / Steven Lee Myers ; Children harmed by the Chernobyl accident should be helped at home / Sarah Carey ; A comparison of the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island incidents / Richard D. Fitzgerald ; The Chernobyl disaster shows that nuclear energy is inherently unsafe / Harvey Wasserman ; Chernobyl tourism / Tom Parfitt -- Personal narratives. A control room worker talks about the accident and life afterwards / Vivienne Parry ; A liquidator's experience at Chernobyl / Sergei B., interviewed by Mark Resnicoff ; Women and children in Chernobyl / Svetlana Alexievich ; Poems by a Pripyat refugee / Lyubov Sirota, translated by Leonid Levin and Elisavietta Ritchie ; An Irish activist working with "Chernobyl orphans" / Adi Roche ; A Chernobyl tourist / Charles Hawley.