Voices From Chernobyl Cl

by Alexievich,Svetlana

• ISBN13: 9781564784018
• ISBN10: 1564784010
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-04-30
• Publisher: INGRAM

Summary

On April 26, 1986, the worst nuclear reactor accident in history occurred in Chernobyl and contaminated as much as three quarters of Europe. Although the Soviet government claims that only 31 people died as a result, the aftermath of the event is astounding. Over 485 villages are lost, and approximately 2.1 million people (including 700,000 children) live on contaminated land. There is no official record of how many thousands have died, but thousands of children have been born with catastrophic birth defects. Countless others suffer ongoing health problems resulting from their exposure to radiation.

Table of Contents

Translator's Preface	vii
Historical Note	1	(4)
Prologue: A Solitary Human Voice	5	(20)
PART ONE: THE LAND OF THE DEAD
On Why We Remember	25	(2)
About What Can Be Talked about with the Living and the Dead	27	(7)
About a Whole Life Written down on Doors	34	(2)
By Those Who Returned	36	(14)
About What Radiation Looks Like	50	(3)
About a Song without Words	53	(1)
About a Homeland	54	(10)
About How a Person Is Only Clever and Refined in Evil	64	(3)
Soldiers' Chorus	67	(18)
PART TWO: THE LAND OF THE LIVING
About Old Prophecies	85	(3)
About a Moonlit Landscape	88	(2)
About a Man Whose Tooth Was Hurting When He Saw Christ Fall	90	(6)
About a Single Bullet	96	(8)
About How We Can't Live without Chekhov and Tolstoy	104	(5)
About War Movies	109	(9)
A Scream	118	(1)
About a New Nation	119	(7)
About Writing Chernobyl	126	(7)
About Lies and Truths	133	(10)
People's Chorus	143	(12)
PART THREE: AMAZED BY SADNESS
About What We Didn't Know: Death Can Be So Beautiful	155	(3)
About the Shovel and the Atom	158	(7)
About Taking Measurements	165	(2)
About How the Frightening Things in Life Happen Quietly and Naturally	167	(7)
About Answers	174	(3)
About Memories	177	(2)
About Loving Physics	179	(6)
About Expensive Salami	185	(2)
About Freedom and the Dream of an Ordinary Death	187	(6)
About the Shadow of Death	193	(4)
About a Damaged Child	197	(2)
About Political Strategy	199	(6)
By a Defender of the Soviet Government	205	(1)
About Instructions	206	(4)
About the Limitless Power One Person Can Have over Another	210	(7)
About Why We Love Chernobyl	217	(4)
Children's Chorus	221	(4)
A Solitary Human Voice	225	(14)
In Place of an Epilogue	239