This book contains 100 fascinating and, at the same time, concise articles about the most important and interesting symbols of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone: from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the city of Pripyat, to individual monuments of the bygone Soviet era, like soda machines, pay phones, and other items that give an idea of the life of a typical successful 1980s Soviet town.

The reader will find out how the catastrophe happened; “walk” around abandoned military facilities, including the giant “Duga” radar; see the cemetery for equipment used by the accident liquidators; look into the apartments of Pripyat, abandoned the day after the terrible explosion; meet the giant catfish and the almost-tame fox Semyon, entranced by tourists; be horrified by how, after thirty years, the former city of the Soviet atomic scientists has decayed and been taken over by forest. Seeing dust-covered faded toys left by their small owners, rusty bumper cars in an amusement park forever frozen near the famous Pripyat Ferris wheel, joyful faces of pioneers looking from mosaic panels through thickets of poplars, the reader will understand how suddenly, tragically, and irreversibly the lives of tens of thousands of people were changed.

The articles in this unusual photo album were written by Exclusion Zone experts: an experienced stalker, authoritative environmental scientists, and a writer popular in the former USSR.

The editors tried to seriously prepare a high-quality English text, so all the articles were translated not just by a native speaker from the USA, but also by a Chernobyl Zone specialist who has been working in the field for 14 years.

The book will be interesting for both tourists visiting the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and for anyone who is interested in the history and consequences of the terrible event of April 26, 1986.