Book Review by Dennis D. McDonald

This is a scary story no matter how you spin it. Inevitably embedded in this well researched tale is an explanation of how the bureaucratic and autocratic Soviet system got so out of control as to allow the delays and outright lies that created the awful reality of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion and its disastrous aftermath.

No doubt some will also point out the events that led to the Fukushima and 3 Mile Island events in an attempt to place in context Soviet stupidity and malfeasance. Be that as it may, this book is simply too well researched to dismiss the horrible reality of how unprepared people were for the Chernobyl nightmare.

In addition to politics and technology Adam Higginbotham gives us many insights into the human sides of the many tragedies that occurred, both large and small.

Comparable to the mismanagement that occurred around reactor number 4 at Chernobyl was the gross governmental mismanagement and incompetence that accompanied the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

We’ll never know how many hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths occurred in the US due to the Federal government’s inaction, just as we will never know how many deaths could have been avoided in Ukraine had better plans been made and carried out. In both cases government lies and mismanagement literally killed people.

Copyright (c) 2021 by Dennis D. McDonald

See also Chernobyl, Social Media, and "Fake News"

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