Serhii Plokhy

Immerse yourself in the captivating history of Ukraine with The Gates of Europe by Serhii Plokhy. This authoritative narrative unveils the rich and complex tapestry of Ukraine, a land situated at the crossroads of Eastern and Western civilisations. Tracing Ukraine's journey from the medieval period to the present day, Plokhy meticulously explores how the region's unique geopolitical position has made...

Chernobyl by Serhii Plokhy offers a gripping, minute-by-minute account of one of the most devastating events of the Cold War. This masterfully researched work delves into the cataclysmic explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Soviet Ukraine on the morning of 26 April 1986, an incident that brought the world perilously close to nuclear annihilation. Plokhy...

Urgent, compelling reading from the author of Chernobyl on the defining conflict of our times — do you know what is at stake in Ukraine? 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...

Baillie-Gifford award-winner Serhii Plokhy's 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...

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...

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...

The definitive history of the Cuban Missile Crisis from the bestselling author of Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy. 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...

An astonishingly wide-ranging history of Russian nationalism from a pre-eminent scholar of Eastern Europe. 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...

From the winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize, the incredible true story of one of the most audacious and little-known operations of WW2. 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...

The award-winning historian 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...

BY THE AUTHOR OF CHERNOBYL: HISTORY OF A TRAGEDY, WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2018 WINNER OF THE PUSHKIN HOUSE RUSSIAN BOOK PRIZE 2015 On Christmas Day 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union. By the next day, the USSR was officially no more, and the USA had emerged as the world’s sole superpower. Award-winning historian...

The biblical image of David and Goliath fittingly captures the nature of the war that Russia, the world's largest country by surface area, unleashed on neighbouring Ukraine. While Ukraine is the largest country on the European continent, it is almost thirty times smaller than Russia and has only over a quarter of Russia's population. Yet, Ukraine's stubborn resistance proves that...

The Frontline presents a selection of essays drawn together for the first time to form a companion volume to Serhii Plokhy's The Gates of Europe and Chernobyl. Here, he expands upon his analysis in earlier works of key events in Ukrainian history, including Ukraine's complex relations with Russia and the West, the burden of tragedies such as the Holodomor and...

The Frontline presents a selection of essays drawn together for the first time to form a companion volume to Serhii Plokhy's The Gates of Europe and Chernobyl. Here, he expands upon his analysis in earlier works of key events in Ukrainian history, including Ukraine's complex relations with Russia and the West, the burden of tragedies such as the Holodomor and...

From the best-selling 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...