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Reading lists

Books to read that tell Ukraine’s stories

An Epic Race for Arms, Power and Survival

The Nuclear Age

'Few historians write with Serhii Plokhy’s authority, clarity or global vision... Essential reading, and a marvellous book' Peter Frankopan From the bestselling author of Chernobyl comes a sweeping history of the geopolitics behind the nuclear arms race, from the first atomic bomb to today 
On 16 July 1945, the Nuclear Age began with the explosion of the first atomic bomb and the words of J. Robert Oppenheimer: 'Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.' 
While the threat of mutually assured destruction kept a lid on a simmering and tense geopolitical landscape, events like the Chernobyl disaster and near-misses like the Cuban Missile Crisis showed that total destruction was only ever one malfunction, mistake, or miscommunication away. Now, as governments re-arm their nuclear arsenals, treaties designed to limit the acquisition and use of nuclear weapons fall away, and nuclear weapons come increasingly within reach of non-state actors, we are on the brink of a renaissance of the nuclear industry. 
In The Nuclear Age, acclaimed historian Serhii Plokhy paints an intricate picture of a world governed by fear. From the first artificial splitting of the atom in 1917 and the race to create the first atomic bomb in World War II, through the fraught arms race of the Cold War, to the imperialism, neo-colonial motivation and wars being waged today, the threat posed by nuclear weapons is as pertinent as ever. 
 
As he examines the motivations of key players, Plokhy confronts the crucial question of our age: what can we learn from the first nuclear arms race that can help us to stop the new one?

The Nuclear Age moves around in time and spans most of the globe... Seeing the facts of the nuclear age laid out on the page carries its own propulsive force. And those facts will frequently leave you reeling

The Nuclear Age is an encyclopaedic survey of proliferation, and essential reading for anyone who wants to know how we got to where we are

Panoramic in scope and fastidious in detail... Plokhy's perfectly timed, compelling and essential book reminds us that the spectre of nuclear extinction is not a cold war nightmare but a permanent condition of modern life

Serhii Plokhy’s alarming warning in The Nuclear Age evokes a range of visceral responses. The first is deep memory. For readers who lived through the last 50 years, Plokhy’s narrative will resonate as the terrifying, then hopeful, backdrop to our lives... It also provokes deep anger at those whose recklessness and absence of conscience have constituted a crime against creation

Few historians write with Serhii Plokhy’s authority, clarity or global vision. The Nuclear Age is not only the definitive account of how nuclear power and peril have shaped the modern world, but a profound warning about the risks we still face. This is essential reading, and a marvellous book

Serhii Plokhy is the author of Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy, which won the Baillie Gifford Prize and the Pushkin House Book Prize, and the New York Times bestseller The Gates of Europe. His many acclaimed books, including The Russo-Ukrainian War, Nuclear Folly and Atoms and Ashes, have been translated into over a dozen languages. He is Professor of History at Harvard University where he also serves as Director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.

On 16 July 1945, the Nuclear Age began with the explosion of the first atomic bomb and the words of J. Robert Oppenheimer: 'Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.'While the threat of mutually assured destruction kept a lid on a simmering and tense geopolitical landscape, events like the Chernobyl disaster and near-misses like the Cuban Missile Crisis showed that total destruction was only ever one malfunction, mistake, or miscommunication away. Now, as governments re-arm their nuclear arsenals, treaties designed to limit the acquisition and use of nuclear weapons fall away, and nuclear weapons come increasingly within reach of non-state actors, we are on the brink of a renaissance of the nuclear industry.In The Nuclear Age, acclaimed historian Serhii Plokhy paints an intricate picture of a world governed by fear. From the first artificial splitting of the atom in 1917 and the race to create the first atomic bomb in World War II, through the fraught arms race of the Cold War, to the imperialism, neo-colonial motivation and wars being waged today, the threat posed by nuclear weapons is as pertinent as ever. 
 
As he examines the motivations of key players, Plokhy confronts the crucial question of our age: what can we learn from the first nuclear arms race that can help us to stop the new one?

A War Story

Chernobyl Roulette

'A necessary book – and I can think of no writer better qualified to write it' Cal Flyn 
What if Chernobyl was just the beginning? 
The acclaimed winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize returns to Chernobyl to tell the gripping story of thirty-five days of war 
 
On 24 February 2022, the first day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, armoured vehicles approached the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine. It was the most direct way for them to reach the capital - and an extraordinarily reckless plan after the disaster that had taken place there three decades earlier. Russian occupation of the plant had begun. It would last thirty-five days. 
 
Closely reported and narrated from multiple perspectives, this is the story of the Ukrainians who were held hostage and worked shifts for weeks instead of days to spare the world a new nuclear accident. We meet Valentyn Heiko, the foreman who had also been there for the clean-up of the Chernobyl accident in 1986 and turned sixty during the occupation; plant workers who found a way to celebrate International Women’s Day despite all odds; Russian officers who had no knowledge of nuclear reactors; and four stalkers who were caught in the middle and stood in for the overworked cook. 
 
Gripping and unforgettable, Chernobyl Roulette sounds the alarm about the dangers of nuclear sites in an unprecedented time, when plant workers are left to fight on their own while the world holds its breath. In a book that reads like a thriller, Serhii Plokhy tells a remarkable story about human nature, uncertainty and courage.

One of the most impressive nonfiction works of the past decade

Brilliant… Plokhy is uniquely qualified to write this book… an extended and deeply informed piece of reportage, that raises some fundamental questions about nuclear power plant safety in wartime… Out of this tense situation Plokhy draws a parable for intelligent opposition to occupation

An inside account of how nuclear power facilities have become a terrifying element of the current battlefield… with professorial care, and the intermittent pace of a thriller… Plokhy was fated to tell this story

Chernobyl Roulette compellingly chronicles the singular courage and selflessness of atomic power station employees held hostage by Russian troops… and is a gripping account of the extraordinary events inside the plant… a tale of bravery and selflessness… It salutes the singular men and women who stepped up – as their predecessors did before them – when protocols and governments failed

The gripping account of the Ukrainian plant workers who saved the world from another nuclear disaster… Clearly no one else was better placed to tell the tale of the 35 days of the Russian occupation of Chernobyl than Serhii Plokhy and, given the risk of a new catastrophe caused by the fighting, this is an occupation story like no other… extraordinary… a great book

Plohky elegantly recounts the occupation of the power-plant in February 2022: held hostage by Russian troops, the plant foreman managed to turn the situation on its head, informing the Russian occupiers that in a place as contaminated as this, they would have to follow the rules

A terrifying blow-by-blow account of what could have been the most disastrous postscript to the 1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl. Plokhy's exacting, precise and ultimately humane account is an act of global public service. This is a necessary book – and I can think of no writer better qualified to write it

Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment

Chernobyl Roulette is a fast-paced, illuminating narrative of the incredible heroism and courage shown by the personnel of Ukrainian nuclear facilities that were attacked by Russian forces, and of the stupefying recklessness with which the Russian military pushed the world to the brink of a nuclear disaster. A must-read

Yaroslav Trofimov, author of Our Enemies Will Vanish

On 24 February 2022, the first day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, armoured vehicles approached the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine. It was the most direct way for them to reach the capital - and an extraordinarily reckless plan after the disaster that had taken place there three decades earlier. Russian occupation of the plant had begun. It would last thirty-five days. 
 
Closely reported and narrated from multiple perspectives, this is the story of the Ukrainians who were held hostage and worked shifts for weeks instead of days to spare the world a new nuclear accident. We meet Valentyn Heiko, the foreman who had also been there for the clean-up of the Chernobyl accident in 1986 and turned sixty during the occupation; plant workers who found a way to celebrate International Women’s Day despite all odds; Russian officers who had no knowledge of nuclear reactors; and four stalkers who were caught in the middle and stood in for the overworked cook. 
 
Gripping and unforgettable, Chernobyl Roulette sounds the alarm about the dangers of nuclear sites in an unprecedented time, when plant workers are left to fight on their own while the world holds its breath. In a book that reads like a thriller, Serhii Plokhy tells a remarkable story about human nature, uncertainty and courage.

The Russo-Ukrainian War

CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE FINANCIAL TIMES * TELEGRAPH * PROSPECT 
 
'The best account of the ongoing conflict — its preconditions and its present-day horrors' Prospect 
 
Do you know what is at stake in Ukraine? Urgent, compelling reading from the author of Chernobyl on the defining conflict of our times 
 
On 24 February 2022, Russia stunned the world by launching an invasion of Ukraine. In the midst of checking on the family and friends who were now on the front lines of Europe's largest conflict since the outbreak of the Second World War, acclaimed Ukrainian-American historian Serhii Plokhy inevitably found himself attempting to understand the deeper causes of the invasion, analysing its course and contemplating the wider outcomes. 
 
The Russo-Ukrainian War is the comprehensive history of a war that has burned since 2014, and that, with Russia's attempt to seize Kyiv, exploded a geo-political order that had been cemented since the end of the Cold War. With an eye for the gripping detail on the ground, both in the halls of power and down in the trenches, as well as a keen sense of the grander sweep of history, Plokhy traces the origins and the evolution of the conflict, from the collapse of the Russian empire to the rise and fall of the USSR and on to the development in Ukraine of a democratic politics. 
 
Based on decades of research and his unique insight into the region, he argues that Ukraine's defiance of Russia, and the West's demonstration of unity and strength, has presented a profound challenge to Putin's Great Power ambition, and further polarized the world along a new axis. A riveting, enlightening account, this is present-minded history at its best. 
 
BEST BOOKS OF SUMMER 2023: FINANCIAL TIMES * THE TIMES * SUNDAY TIMES CULTURE * TLS

How did we get here? Serhii Plokhy, a professor of Ukrainian history at Harvard University, looks for an answer to Putin's irrational war in this important and magisterial account. . . He is excellent on the dangers of perverse history

The Times and Sunday Times Best Books for Summer

The foremost historian of Ukraine turns his attention to contemporary events. He argues that Russia's invasion is an act of old-fashioned imperialism. Plokhy uses his historical perspective to provide an original erudite and very readable account of the roots of the war and its course so far

Vladimir Putin's full invasion of Ukraine has made 2021 look like "vegetarian times", to borrow Anna Akhmatova's phrase. I'll be spending three weeks among the scrabbly pitch pines of Cape Cod, and of the stream of new books about the war itself, I plan to bring ... Serhii Plokhy's The Russo-Ukrainian War (Allen Lane), for its historical perspective on Ukraine and the Russian imperial project

The great chronicler of Ukraine breaks new ground in his rigorous and elegant analysis of Europe's biggest conflict since 1945. Wonderfully readable and deeply personal

This magisterial book by a leading historian explains how long-held Russian imperial delusions lay behind the attack on Ukraine. It brilliantly outlines the dangers of perverse history

Erudite, objective and immensely readable. A compelling rejoinder to those who, reductively, still blame Putin's war of aggression on western provocations, and an expression of faith in Ukrainian resilience

Plokhy, a Harvard historian who has authored many respected books, is himself Ukrainian. . . this book represents an impassioned plea for his country

The world's foremost historian of Ukraine. . . the chronicler of a country on the front lines of a seismic European war

Impressive and valuable... A clear, reliable and (in the circumstances) remarkably calm account of how we got here

Plokhy has become an international celebrity. His books on Ukrainian history fly off the shelves as a domestic and international audience look to understand the history and culture of the country at the heart of the clash. His writings introduce readers to a history that is rarely taught in the West and explain the region's complex and difficult past

This is one of those wars rooted deep in the past, and it takes an outstanding historian to make sense of its antecedents without falling into partisan cheerleading or cartoonish oversimplification. Fortunately, Serhii Plokhy is such a historian. His evident sympathy for his homeland never overpowers his scholarly instincts

A feat of scholarship under pressure

Plokhy is a fine, crisp writer and does brilliant research. . . . There is so much more here to inform this huge and important debate that I can only urge anybody who cares about the matter to buy and read the book

A masterpiece of historical research that will give Western readers a much better understanding of Russia's motivations and the conflict's early months

The horrific war in Ukraine rumbles on, and perhaps it's a strange time for a history of the conflict to come out, but Serhii Plokhy is the perfect historian to write it. Plokhy has lost relatives and friends in the conflict, and The Russo-Ukrainian War details with well-constructed arguments the causes and consequences of Putin's gamble. It may be current affairs, but it's difficult not to argue the invasion is historic

An utterly compelling account, deeply personal, persuasively authoritative, surely the must-read book for this challenging moment

Philippe Sands, author of East West Street

For those trying to understand the roots of the war in Ukraine, there is no better guide than Serhii Plokhy. It's impossible to make sense of the Russian invasion of 2022 without knowing something of the history - recent and less recent - and the struggle for Ukrainian national identity; this compelling and lucid book illuminates both

The essential book for the Russia-Ukraine war - superb, accessible and erudite - by the world's chief expert. The must-read work

Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The World: A Family History

The thread of history is central to understanding Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Serhii Plokhy outlines this in fascinating detail and reminds us of the constant fragility of peace

On 24 February 2022, Russia shocked the world by launching an invasion of Ukraine. In the midst of checking on loved ones who were now on the front lines of Europe's largest conflict since the Second World War, acclaimed Ukrainian-American historian Serhii Plokhy inevitably found himself attempting to understand the deeper causes of the invasion, analysing its course and contemplating the wider consequences. 
 
The Russo-Ukrainian War is the comprehensive history of a conflict that has burned since 2014, and that, with Russia's attempt to seize Kyiv, exploded a geo-political order that had been cemented since the end of the Cold War. With an eye for the gripping detail on the ground, both in the halls of power and down in the trenches, as well as a keen sense of the grander sweep of history, Plokhy traces the origins and the evolution of the conflict, from the collapse of the Russian empire to the rise and fall of the USSR, and on to the development in Ukraine of a democratic politics soon loathed by its neighbour in the east. 
 
Plokhy argues that Ukraine's defiance of Russia, and the West's demonstration of unity and strength, has presented a profound challenge to Putin's Great Power ambition, and further polarized the world along a new axis. A riveting, enlightening account, this is present-minded history at its best.

From Bikini Atoll to Fukushima

Atoms and Ashes

CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY SUNDAY TIMES AND HISTORY TODAY 
 
'Absolutely stunning. . . a formidable achievement. A six-part historical thriller that is essential reading for both our politicians and the ordinary citizen' Kai Bird 
 
Best-selling historian Serhii Plokhy returns with an illuminating exploration of the atomic age through the history of six nuclear disasters 
 
In 2011, a 43-foot-high tsunami crashed into a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. In the following days, explosions would rip buildings apart, three reactors would go into nuclear meltdown, and the surrounding area would be swamped in radioactive water. It is now considered one of the costliest nuclear disasters ever. But Fukushima was not the first, and it was not the worst. . . 
 
In Atoms and Ashes, acclaimed historian Serhii Plokhy tells the tale of the six nuclear disasters that shook the world: Bikini Atoll, Kyshtym, Windscale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. Based on wide-ranging research and witness testimony, Plokhy traces the arc of each crisis, exploring in depth the confused decision-making on the ground and the panicked responses of governments to contain the crises and often cover up the scale of the catastrophe. 
 
As the world increasingly looks to renewable and alternative sources of energy, Plokhy lucidly argues that the atomic risk must be understood in explicit terms, but also that these calamities reveal a fundamental truth about our relationship with nuclear technology: that the thirst for power and energy has always trumped safety and the cost for future generations.

A timely and enthralling study of the atomic age and its perils . . . a meticulously researched history

A superbly crafted but enormously frightening history of nuclear disasters . . . without ever preaching, Plokhy constructs a formidable case for consigning nuclear power to the past

Plokhy's gripping, measured accounts of human error and staggering heroism in the face of the terrifying forces of nuclear power get under the skin

Frightening . . . With catastrophic climate change bearing down on us, nuclear power has been promoted by some as an obvious solution, but this sobering history urges us to look hard at that bargain for what it is

A revealing tour of some of the most terrifying experiences involving nuclear power. Plokhy excels in unpacking the human and systemic factors that contribute to nuclear disasters

Gripping . . . Plokhy combines newspaper interviews, memoirs, government reports and secondary sources to give a vivid account of the perils of nuclear power

Expertly concise. . . this account of the downhill slide of atomic power since its heyday in the 1950s illustrates why it can never be the solution to global heating

Absolutely stunning. A formidable achievement. Plokhy has written a six-part historical thriller that is essential reading for both our politicians and the ordinary citizen. We have survived the Nuclear Age for three-quarters of a century, but this book calmly reminds us that accidents happen?and will surely happen again. His stories of nuclear accidents are riveting and frightening

Kai Bird, co-author of American Prometheus

In 2011, a 43-foot-high tsunami crashed into a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. In the following days, explosions would rip buildings apart, three reactors would go into nuclear meltdown, and the surrounding area would be swamped in radioactive water. It is now considered one of the costliest nuclear disasters ever. But Fukushima was not the first, and it was not the worst. . . 
 
In Atoms and Ashes, acclaimed historian Serhii Plokhy tells the tale of the six nuclear disasters that shook the world: Bikini Atoll, Kyshtym, Windscale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. Based on wide-ranging research and witness testimony, Plokhy traces the arc of each crisis, exploring in depth the confused decision-making on the ground and the panicked responses of governments to contain the crises and often cover up the scale of the catastrophe. 
 
As the world increasingly looks to renewable and alternative sources of energy, Plokhy lucidly argues that the atomic risk must be understood in explicit terms, but also that these calamities reveal a fundamental truth about our relationship with nuclear technology: that the thirst for power and energy has always trumped safety and the cost for future generations.

A New History of the Cuban Missile Crisis

Nuclear Folly

*Shortlisted for the Duke of Wellington Medal for Military History* 
 
'An enthralling account of a pivotal moment in modern history. . . replete with startling revelations about the deception and mutual suspicion that brought the US and Soviet Union to the brink of Armageddon in October 1962' Martin Chilton, Independent 
 
The definitive new history of the Cuban Missile Crisis from the author of Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy, winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize 
 
For more than four weeks in the autumn of 1962 the world teetered. The consequences of a misplaced step during the Cuban Missile Crisis could not have been more grave. Ash and cinder, famine and fallout; nuclear war between the two most-powerful nations on Earth. 
 
In Nuclear Folly, award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy tells the riveting story of those weeks, tracing the tortuous decision-making and calculated brinkmanship of John F. Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro, and of their advisors and commanders on the ground. More often than not, Plokhy argues, the Americans and Soviets simply misread each other, operating under mutual distrust, second-guesses and false information. Despite all of this, nuclear disaster was avoided thanks to one very human reason: fear. 
 
Drawing on an impressive array of primary sources, including recently declassified KGB files, Plokhy masterfully illustrates the drama of those tense days. Authoritative, fast-paced and unforgettable, this is the definitive new account of the Cold War's most perilous moment.

An immense achievement, engrossing and terrifying, surely one of the most important books ever written about the Cuban Missile Crisis and 20th-century international relations

The story is extraordinary and Plokhy is an accomplished narrator . . . it's as authoritative a version of the Soviet side as we are likely to ever get

An enthralling account of a pivotal moment in modern history. . . replete with startling revelations about the deception and mutual suspicion that brought the US and Soviet Union to the brink of Armageddon in October 1962

A definitive new account of the Cuban Missile Crisis . . . masterly

With access to recently declassified KGB material, this is the most detailed and dependable account of the crisis. It will be gladly plundered by students and scholars and highlighted until its pages are damp with neon yellow

A dramatic story, compellingly told

A magisterial work based on a bevy of U.S. and Soviet archival sources, including previously classified KGB documents. The perspective Plokhy provides exposes the perverse incentives that fueled dangerous nuclear power plays during the Cold War and, he suggests, beyond

A gripping narrative about the most dangerous Cold War crisis . . . Plokhy brings this turning point to spine-chilling life - it reads like a thriller

Nearly sixty years after the Cuban Missile Crisis, Serhi Plokhy, the author of multiple groundbreaking books on Soviet history, once again uses newly released KGB archives to offer a new perspective. In gripping, granular detail, he shows us just how close the U.S. and the Soviet Union came to Armageddon

Anne Applebaum, author of Twilight of Democracy

A fresh examination of the historical milestone. . . . Plokhy keeps the pages turning, and he includes far more Soviet material than earlier scholars. . . . superbly researched and uncomfortably timely

This important, absorbing work shows that the full story of the Cuban Missile Crisis must be told from its global perspective

Plokhy dives deep. . . . History buffs will savor this balanced and richly detailed look at both sides of the crisis

If you think the story of the Cuban missile crisis has been told so often that nothing remains to be learned, think again. Drawing on KGB documents preserved in Ukrainian archives and Soviet military memoirs, as well as American documents and Cuban materials, Serhii Plokhy's almost hour-by-hour account freshly illuminates mistakes by the Kremlin and the White House that triggered the crisis, and snafus at sea and in Cuba that almost sparked a nuclear war

An excellent overview of the Cuban missile crisis from one of America's leading Cold War historians. Serhii Plokhy has mined previously untapped Soviet archives to shed new light on the thirteen days that brought the world closer than ever before to nuclear destruction, and the pivotal roles of John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev. A thrilling read that justifies his sobering conclusion: we may not be so lucky next time

Michael Dobbs, author of One Minute to Midnight

For more than four weeks in the autumn of 1962 the world teetered. The consequences of a misplaced step during the Cuban Missile Crisis could not have been more grave. Ash and cinder, famine and fallout; nuclear war between the two most-powerful nations on Earth. 
 
In Nuclear Folly, award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy tells the riveting story of those weeks, tracing the tortuous decision-making and calculated brinkmanship of John F. Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro, and of their advisors and commanders on the ground. More often than not, Plokhy argues, the Americans and Soviets simply misread each other, operating under mutual distrust, second-guesses and false information. Despite all of this, nuclear disaster was avoided thanks to one very human reason: fear. 
 
Drawing on the impressive array of primary sources, including the recently declassified KGB files, Plokhy masterfully illustrates the drama of those tense days. Authoritative, fast-paced and unforgettable, this is the definitive new account of the Cold War's most perilous moment.

An Untold Story of World War II

Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front

'Many books claim to tell an "unknown" story of the Second World War. Few of them actually do. Forgotten Bastards is a rare exception . . . This is gripping history' Duncan Weldon, Prospect 
 
A riveting story of World War II from the author of Chernobyl, winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction 
 
In November 1943, with the outcome of the Second World War hanging in the balance, the Allies needed a new plan. The Americans' audacious suggestion to the Soviets was to open a second air front, with the US Air Force establishing bases in Soviet-controlled territory. Despite Stalin's obvious reservations about the presence of foreign troops in Russia, he was persuaded. Operation Baseball and then Frantic were initiated in early 1944 as B-17 Superfortresses were flown from bases in Italy to the Poltova region in today's Ukraine. 
 
Award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy tells the gripping, little-known story of this encounter between American and Soviet soldiers and how their collaboration quickly fell apart, mirroring the transition from the Grand Alliance to the Cold War. Soviet secret policemen watched over the Americans, shadowing their every move. A catastrophic air raid by the Germans revealed the limitations of Soviet air defences. As their initial enthusiasm turned into disappointment, the American soldiers started calling themselves the Forgotten Bastards of Ukraine. Ultimately, no common purpose could overcome their cultural and political differences. 
 
Drawing on newly opened Russian archives as well as CIA records, Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front offers a riveting bottom-up history of one of the Second World War's most unlikely alliances.

Plokhy is an expert guide, marshalling the archival and memoir material skilfully and telling his story with flair

Many books claim to tell an "unknown" story of the Second World War. Few of them actually do. Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front is a rare exception. . . Plokhy is at his best when he turns to the human level, the culture clash experienced by US servicemen finding themselves inside Stalin's USSR under constant surveillance from the secret police

Serhii Plokhy's fascinating account of American airmen operating in the Soviet Union toward the end of WWII is not only superb history. It is an important and timely reminder, seventy five years later, that victory in WWII involved allying with Stalinism and all its attendant evils

A riveting read that brings together a unique story about American airmen on Soviet territory and US-Soviet wartime politics on the highest level. Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill and key events in World War II diplomacy are seamlessly woven into a compelling tale of the dramatic feats and fates of US servicemen in contact and conflict with their Soviet male and female 'comrades in arms.' At once utterly absorbing, enlightening and moving, this splendid book also unearths absolutely original evidence about the values wars that launched the Cold War even as the hot one was raging

Nina Tumarkin, Professor of History and Director of Russian Area Studies, Wellesley College

A new and enlightening perspective on the collaboration between Soviet and American airmen in Ukraine during their mutual fight against the Nazis, taking the reader onto the airbases to show how cultural differences and the oppressive political oversight of the Russians ate away at the effort from early on. Using detailed accounts not previously available, Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front shows how the interpersonal relationships of Americans and Soviets at ground level were as important as any maneuvering by their country's leaders. An insightful account of a little-known story

Gregory Freeman, author of The Forgotten 500

Five stars. . . brilliantly researched

In November 1943, with the outcome of the Second World War hanging in the balance, the Allies needed a new plan. The Americans' audacious suggestion to the Soviets was to open a second air front, with the US Air Force establishing bases in Soviet-controlled territory. Despite Stalin's obvious reservations about the presence of foreign troops in Russia, he was persuaded, and in early 1944 and Operation Baseball and then Frantic were initiated as B-17 Superfortresses were flown from bases in Italy to the Poltova region in today's Ukraine. 
 
Award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy tells the gripping, little-known story of this encounter between American and Soviet soldiers and how their collaboration quickly fell apart, mirroring the transition from the Grand Alliance to the Cold War. Soviet secret policemen watched over the Americans, shadowing their every move. A catastrophic air raid by the Germans revealed the limitations of Soviet air defences. As their initial enthusiasm turned into disappointment, the American soldiers started calling themselves the Forgotten Bastards of Ukraine. Ultimately, no common purpose could overcome their cultural and political differences. 
 
Drawing on newly opened Russian archives as well as CIA records, Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front offers a riveting bottom-up history one of the Second World War's most unlikely alliances.

History of a Tragedy

Chernobyl

*WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2018* 
*WINNER OF THE PUSHKIN HOUSE BOOK PRIZE 2019* 
 
'As moving as it is painstakingly researched. . . a cracking read' Viv Groskop, Observer 
 
'A riveting account of human error and state duplicity. . . rightly being hailed as a classic' Hannah Betts, Daily Telegraph 
 
On 26 April 1986 at 1.23am a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Soviet Ukraine exploded. While the authorities scrambled to understand what was occurring, workers, engineers, firefighters and those living in the area were abandoned to their fate. The blast put the world on the brink of nuclear annihilation, contaminating over half of Europe with radioactive fallout. 
 
In Chernobyl, award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy draws on recently opened archives to recreate these events in all their drama. A moment by moment account of the heroes, perpetrators and victims of a tragedy, Chernobyl is the first full account of a gripping, unforgettable Cold War story. 
 
'A compelling history of the 1986 disaster and its aftermath . . . plunges the reader into the sweaty, nervous tension of the Chernobyl control room on that fateful night when human frailty and design flaws combined to such devastating effect' Daniel Beer, Guardian 
 
'Haunting ... near-Tolstoyan. His voice is humane and inflected with nostalgia' Roland Elliott Brown, Spectator 
 
'Extraordinary, vividly written, powerful storytelling ... the first full-scale history of the world's worst nuclear disaster, one of the defining moments in the Cold War, told minute by minute' Victor Sebestyen Sunday Times 
 
'Plays out like a classical tragedy ... fascinating' Julian Evans, Daily Telegraph 
 
'Here at last is the monumental history the disaster deserves' Julie McDowall, The Times

An insightful and important book, that often reads like a good thriller, and that exposes the danger of mixing powerful technology with irresponsible politics

As moving as it is painstakingly researched, this book is a tour de force and a cracking read. . .  Without losing any detail or nuance, Plokhy has a knack for making complicated things simple while still profound

A work of deep scholarship and powerful stroytelling. Plokhy is the master of the telling detail

A compelling history of the 1986 disaster and its aftermath. . . Plokhy's well-paced narrative plunges the reader into the sweaty, nervous tension of the Chernobyl control room

The first comprehensive history of the Chernobyl disaster. . . here at last is the monumental history the disaster deserves

Plokhy, a Harvard professor of Ukrainian background, is ideally placed to tell the harrowing story of Chernobyl. . . he has an immense knowledge of Russian and Ukrainian history and maintains the highest standards of scholarship

A meticulous account of the disaster - and how the Soviet authorities tried to cover it up. . . A worthy winner of this year's Baillie Gifford prize for nonfiction

A riveting account of human error and state duplicity. . . rightly being hailed as a classic

A masterful retelling. . .  Mr Plokhy's book will endure as a definitive history

Serhii Plokhy is Professor of History at Harvard University and a leading authority on Eastern Europe whose previous books include Lost Kingdom, The Gates of Europe and The Last Empire. At the time of the Chernobyl explosion he lived behind the Iron Curtain less than 500 kilometres downstream of the damaged reactor.

On the morning of 26 April 1986 Europe witnessed the worst nuclear disaster in history: the explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Soviet Ukraine. The outburst put the world on the brink of nuclear annihilation. In the end, less than five percent of the reactor's fuel escaped, but that was enough to contaminate over half of Europe with radioactive fallout. 
 
In Chernobyl, Serhii Plokhy recreates these events in all of their drama, telling the stories of the firefighters, scientists, engineers, workers, soldiers, and policemen who found themselves caught in a nuclear Armageddon and succeeded in doing the seemingly impossible: extinguishing the nuclear inferno and putting the reactor to sleep. While it is clear that the immediate cause of the accident was a turbine test gone wrong, Plokhy shows how the deeper roots of Chernobyl lay in the nature of the Soviet political system and the flaws of its nuclear industry. A little more than five years later, the Soviet Union would fall apart, destroyed from within by its unsustainable communist ideology and the dysfunctional managerial and economic systems laid bare in the wake of the disaster. 
 
A poignant, fast paced account of the drama of heroes, perpetrators, and victims, Chernobyl is the definitive history of the world's worst nuclear disaster.

A History of Russian Nationalism from Ivan the Great to Vladimir Putin

Lost Kingdom

'Brisk and thoughtful, this book could hardly be more timely' Dominic Sandbrook, BBC History Magazine, Books of the Year 
 
From a preeminent scholar of Eastern Europe and the prize-winning author of Chernobyl, the essential history of Russian imperialism 
 
In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea and attempted to seize a portion of Ukraine. While the world watched in outrage, this violation of national sovereignty was in fact only the latest iteration of a centuries-long effort to expand Russian boundaries and create a pan-Russian nation. In Lost Kingdom, award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy argues that we can only understand the merging of imperialism and nationalism in Russia today by delving into its history. 
 
Spanning over two thousand years, from the end of the Mongol rule to the present day, Plokhy shows how leaders from Ivan the Terrible to Joseph Stalin to Vladimir Putin have exploited existing forms of identity, warfare and territorial expansion to achieve imperial supremacy. A strikingly ambitious book, Lost Kingdom chronicles the long and belligerent history of Russia's empire and nation-building quest.

Lost Kingdom tells the story of how the history of Russia was being written when that history was being made. . . A singularly fascinating account of Russian nationalism through the ages

A sweeping study. . . Not merely an intellectual exercise but one closely linked to contemporary geostrategic debates

Brisk and thoughtful, this book could hardly be more timely

Lost Kingdom is an erudite exploration of the contradictions of Russian nationalism. . . A master historian on top of his game, Serhii Plokhy lays out the challenges this past presents for transforming Russia into a better country for its people and its neighbours

Odd Arne Westad, author of The Cold War: A World History

In Lost Kingdom, Serhii Plokhy does for Russia what only great historians can do-make the connections between the distant past and vital present feel relevant and alive. . . With Russia everywhere in the news today, and every pundit pretending to be an expert, Lost Kingdom is essential reading for those wishing to understand Russia beyond the headlines

Serhii Plokhy is Professor of History at Harvard University and a leading authority on the Cold War and nuclear history. His books include the Baillie Gifford award-winner Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy, Nuclear Folly, The Gates of Europe, Lost Kingdom and The Last Empire.

In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea and attempted to seize a portion of Ukraine. While the world watched in outrage, this violation of national sovereignty was in fact only the latest iteration of a centuries-long effort to expand Russian boundaries and create a pan-Russian nation. In Lost Kingdom, award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy argues that we can only understand the merging of imperialism and nationalism in Russia today by delving into its history. 
 
Spanning over two thousand years, from the end of the Mongol rule to the present day, Plokhy shows how leaders from Ivan the Terrible to Joseph Stalin to Vladimir Putin have exploited existing forms of identity, warfare and territorial expansion to achieve imperial supremacy. 
 
A strikingly ambitious book, Lost Kingdom chronicles the long and belligerent history of Russia's empire and nation-building quest.

A History of Ukraine

The Gates of Europe

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF CHERNOBYL: HISTORY OF A TRAGEDY 
 
'An indispensable guide to the tragic history of a great European nation' Sunday Telegraph 
 
'This is present-minded history at its most urgent. Anyone wanting to understand why Russia and the West confront each other over the future of Ukraine will want to read Serhii Plokhy's reasoned, measured yet passionate account' Michael Ignatieff 
 
Located at the western edge of the Eurasian steppe, Ukraine has long been the meeting place of empires - Roman to Ottoman, Habsburg to Russian - and they all left their imprint on the landscape, the language and the people living within these shifting borders. In this authoritative book, Harvard Professor and acclaimed author of Chernobyl, Serhii Plokhy traces the history of Ukraine from the arrival of the Vikings in the tenth century to the current Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine and annexation of Crimea. 
 
Fascinating and multilayered, The Gates of Europe is the essential guide to understanding not just Ukraine's past but also its future.

The most distinguished historian of Ukraine writing in English. . . Mr Plokhy shows how Ukrainian language, culture and identity flourished in adversity -- which helps explain why, though they have only recently achieved a state of their own, Ukrainians are fighting heroically to defend it

The world's foremost historian of Ukraine. . .  the chronicler of a country on the front lines of a seismic European war

Before my first reporting trip to Ukraine, one of my seasoned war correspondent colleagues had two pieces of advice. First, not to miss the delicious coffee and pastries you can find in Kyiv. Second, that it was absolutely necessary to read Serhii Plokhy's The Gates of Europe. I did, and it unwound 2,500 years of complex, fascinating and often tragic events, all the way from Herodotus's accounts of the ancient Scythians to the Maidan protests in Kyiv a decade ago

A great place to start reading up on the background to the crisis. . . learned and considered, but lightly written and leavened by anecdotes

Clear and elegant... an indispensable guide to the tragic history of a great European nation

A fast-moving history, full of prompts and nuggets... a strong rebuttal of the arrogant assumptions of the Putin court

Admirable... In his elegant and careful exposition of Ukraine's past, Mr Plokhy has also provided some signposts to the future

An assured and authoritative survey that spans ancient Greek times to the present day

Plokhy's careful, engaging history is a series of stories about a spectral nation, one that has appeared and disappeared down the ages... If sense ever prevails, Plokhy's fine book should find its way to Vladimir Putin's desk, if only to show the imperialist that Ukraine itself is far from done, and will not be extinguished

Readers can find no better place to turn than Plokhy's book... He navigates the subject with grace and aplomb

A concise, highly readable history of Ukraine... a lively narrative peopled with a colorful cast of Norse and Mongol marauders, free-booting Cossacks, kings, conquerors and dictators, and conflicted 19th century intellectuals who believed fervently in a Ukrainian cultural identity but were fatally divided as to how that cultural identity could evolve into national entity

An exemplary account of Europe's least-known large country... one of the joys of reading it is that what might seem a dense account of distant events involving unfamiliar places and people is leavened by aphorism and anecdote

Complex and nuanced, refreshingly revisionist and lucid, this is a compelling and outstanding short history of the blood-soaked land that has so often been the battlefield and breadbasket of Europe

This is present-minded history at its most urgent. Anyone wanting to understand why Russia and the West confront each other over the future of Ukraine will want to read Serhii Plokhy's reasoned, measured yet passionate account of Ukraine's historic role at the gates of Europe

For a comprehensive, engaging, and up-to-date history of Ukraine one could do no better than Serhii Plokhy's aptly titled The Gates of Europe. Plokhy's authoritative study will be of great value to scholars, students, policy-makers, and the informed public alike in making sense of the contemporary Ukrainian imbroglio

Located at the western edge of the Eurasian steppe, Ukraine has long been the meeting place of empires - Roman to Ottoman, Habsburg to Russian - and they all left their imprint on the landscape, the language and the people living within these shifting borders. In this authoritative book, Harvard Professor Serhii Plokhy traces the history of Ukraine from the arrival of the Vikings in the tenth century to the current Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine and annexation of Crimea. Fascinating and multilayered, The Gates of Europe is the essential guide to understanding not just Ukraine's past but also its future.

Serhii Plokhy

Serhii Plokhy, the author of excellent histories of Ukraine, Chernobyl and Yalta, has now turned his attention to the extraordinary story of Pope John Paul II's near assassination and its tumultuous aftermath. Readers who admire his talent for combining archival work with strong characters and clear prose will not be disappointed

Distinguished Harvard historian Serhii Plokhy explodes numerous Cold War myths in this meticulously researched account of the shooting of Pope John Paul II.  Drawing on declassified Soviet bloc archives, he demonstrates convincingly that the so-called “Bulgarian connection” to the papal assassination plot was a liar’s fantasy embraced, promoted, and perhaps even inspired by American neocons. A cautionary tale on the seductive power of conspiracy theories, and how difficult it can be to combat them, both then and now

John Paul II and the Last Battle of the Cold War

On a warm, sunny afternoon in May 1981, more than 10,000 pilgrims from all over the world gather on St. Peter’s Square for the start of Pope John Paul II’s general audience. Out of nowhere, a gunshot is heard. John Paul collapses. 
 
After surviving the attempted assassination, John Paul II said of the arrested gunman that ‘one hand pulled the trigger, another guided the bullet’. But in this electrifying account of one of the most iconic events of the Cold War, historian Serhii Plokhy invites us to ask: what if there were far more than just two hands present that day? Drawing on new archival research, Plokhy accompanies the assassin as he travels across Europe in preparation for his strike, following the threads of the story into the corridors of the Kremlin and the Vatican, and through the inner circles of Turkish ultra-nationalists, KGB functionaries, Sicilian mafiosi and Catholic cardinals. 
 
Riveting and illuminating, Killing the Pope goes right to the heart of the Cold War in its final decade – an era of extreme paranoia, in which our own age of disinformation was slowly being born – and sheds new light on one of its most troubling and enduring mysteries.

Serhii Plokhy

Books by Serhii Plokhy

Articles featuring Serhii Plokhy

Books to read that tell Ukraine’s stories

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