This study, first published in Moscow is Shcherbak's account of the Chernobyl disaster of April 1986 based on interviews with many of the participants. Shcherbak considers the Chernobyl accident to be the most important event in the USSR since World War II. Consequently he felt himself impelled to travel to the designated danger zone around the reactor, to live there and to interview firemen, first aid workers, party and government officials and local media representatives. The result is a variety of eyewitness accounts that are considered to be unprecedented in their detail and in their frankness.