In the 11 days following the Chernobyl catastrophe on April 26, 1986, more than 116,000 people were permanently evacuated from the area surrounding the nuclear power plant. Declared unfit for human habitation, the Zones of Exclusion includes the towns of Pripyat (established in the 1970s to house workers) and Chernobyl. In May 2001, Robert Polidori photographed what was left behind in the this dead zone. His richly detailed images move from the burned-out control room of Reactor 4, where technicians staged the experiment that caused the disaster, to the unfinished apartment complexes, ransacked schools and abandoned nurseries that remain as evidence of those who once called Pripyat home. Nearby, trucks and tanks used in the cleanup efforts rest in an auto graveyard, some covered in lead shrouds and others robbed of parts. Houseboats and barges rust in the contaminated waters of the Pripyat River. Foliage grows over the sidewalks and hides the modest homes of Chernobyl. In his large-scale photographs, Polidori captures the faded colors and desolate atmosphere of these two towns, producing haunting documents that present the reader with a rare view of not just a disastrous event, but a place and the people who lived there.

Overall, it is an excellent book. The photography is clear and vivid and there is very little text (an intro at the front and photo reference at the back). The book is large, which is typical of coffee table/photography books, and has a ton of full-page, full-color photographs of the chaos in the areas surrounding the former Chernobyl nuclear power station. These areas include the city of Pripyat (a bedroom community for the plant workers), some rural villages surrounding the plant, abandoned ships in the Pripyat river, huge scrap yards containing contaminated equipment and vehicles used during the cleanup, and a few shots of the plant itself (including the control room of the damaged reactor #4). The images are dramatic and sobering, but readers must remember that the majority of the damage displayed is due to the cleanup efforts of the liquidators and the natural ravages of time. On a personal note, I think that we have little to fear from nuclear power, but the images in this book should serve as a reminder that nuclear power generation is a serious endeavor, and if not handled properly, can have disastrous effects on the environment and on civilization at large. ( )