Author Archives: A. Nelson

AA was never welcome in the Soviet period, largely because of the step requiring people to turn their problems over to a “higher power,” which ran counter to the state’s support of atheism. Continue reading →

Also – I really like how you used the NYT articles to show how unanticipated some of these developments were. Continue reading →

Nuance has never been a strong point of public opinion, so I really appreciate the complexities of this post and the discussion that follows. The collapse of Soviet communism was as complex as it was unanticipated and posts like this remind us of that.
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Good research in this post! Zach, have you been to the area? There are people who have made lives for themselves in the zone despite all of the danger and warnings. Many of them are older women (babushki) — there’s even a documentary in the works about them: http://thebabushkasofchernobyl.com/ Continue reading →

The article called “make sobriety the norm” is wonderful! In trying to dispel the stereotype about alcohol abuse, it seems to do more to reinforce it by emphasizing all of the past “sobriety campaigns.” Continue reading →

Using the Soviet press to show how the reporting on the disaster changed in the months after the accident works really well. Good research for this post!
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Voices from Chernobyl is such a powerful, haunting book — I’m so glad you read it for another class and engaged with it here. Thanks for these insights about the human side of the tragedy. Continue reading →

What everyone else said! Plus – I’m so impressed that you mastered this template — looks great! Continue reading →

On the contrary, once the fallout registered with media and scientists outside the country, the accident became incredibly public. And it turned the government’s “glasnost'” campaign in a much more frank direction. Adam, the research you did for this is really solid. The “voices from Chernobyl” story on NPR is based on a collection of oral histories by the same title. It’s an amazing, devastating book: http://www.amazon.com/Voices-Chernobyl-History-Nuclear-Disaster/dp/0312425848 Continue reading →

That clip of the grocery store is priceless! I’d forgotten just how grim it was, but at the same time, I got a bit nostalgic for those blue and white milk cartons. We might have to watch this one in class…..
Also, can you clarify the year that the “dirty bomb” video was made? 2007? Continue reading →