April 26, 1986. Europe witnessed the worst nuclear disaster in history: the explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Soviet Ukraine. Dozens died of radiation poisoning, fallout contaminated half the continent, and thousands fell ill. Plokhy tells the dramatic stories of the firefighters, scientists, and soldiers who heroically extinguished the nuclear inferno. He lays bare the flaws of the Soviet nuclear industry, and in doing so traces the disaster to the authoritarian character of Communist party rule, the regime's control of scientific information, and its emphasis on economic development over all else. -- adapted from jacket.

Prologue -- Wormwood. Congress -- Road to Chernobyl -- Power plant -- Inferno. Friday night -- Explosion -- Fire -- Denial -- Atop the volcano. High commission -- Exodus -- Taming the reactor -- Invisible enemy. Deadly silence -- Exclusion zone -- China syndrome -- Counting lives -- Reckoning. War of words -- Sarcophagus -- Crime and punishment -- New day. Writer's block -- Nuclear revolt -- Independent atom -- Global shelter -- Epilogue.