Serhii Plokhy

Serhii Plokhy is the professor of history at Harvard University and the director of the university’s Ukrainian Research Institute. He is the author of numerous books, most recently, Lost Kingdom: The Quest for Empire and the Making of the Russian Nation and Chernobyl: The History of the Nuclear Catastrophe.

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European History

Lenin vs Stalin: Their Showdown Over the Birth of the USSR

Even after suffering a stroke, Lenin fought Stalin from the isolation of his bed. Especially after Stalin insulted his wife.

A person holds up a photo showing the city of Prypiat's main square and the 'Energetik' cultural center before the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, against the same site, now abandoned and overgrown with trees, 2015. (Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
1980s

The Chernobyl Cover-Up: How Officials Botched Evacuating an Irradiated City

With Chernobyl's nuclear radiation raining down, Communist party officials dithered, delayed and hid the truth. Then they gave residents of nearby Prypiat 50 minutes to evacuate.