Hey AskHistorians!
I have a MUN coming up ahead and I'll be representing the USSR in the Historical IAEA. THe agenda is the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster.
On 26th April 1986, the most destructive accident in the history of the nuclear industry occurred at Unit 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The disaster led to over 4000 casualties and permanent damage to the livelihoods of people all over Europe due to spread of radioactivity. The battle to contain the contamination and avert a greater catastrophe ultimately involved over 500,000 workers and cost an estimated 20 billion.
Was the disaster an act of sabotage? What were the events that led to the disaster? Could the repercussions of the disaster turn out to be worse? Was the disaster mismanaged? Would it have been possible to change the aftermath of the disaster? The Historic IAEA 1986 is an Ad Hoc committee set up on the 27th of April 1986 to deal with the ramifications of the Chernobyl Disaster. The committee has the power to change the course of history and is tasked with the responsibility of curtailing the effects of one of the most catastrophic accidents in human history.
I'm in the stage of research on the topic and I intend to read up as much as possible on the Soviet Union to fully understand the context in which these events took place. So can anyone recommend books which cover the history, politics, culture,foreign relations and views of the USSR?
tl;dr Can you recommend comprehensive books on the USSR
Stephen Kotkin's Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000 is an excellent introduction to Glasnost and the collapse of the USSR, there's some on Chernobyl as well. Alexei Yurchak's Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation examines the experience of living within the USSR during the Brezhnev and Gorbachev eras. The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States by Ronald Suny is one of the more comprehensive textbooks of the USSR written by a specialist in the field.