Stalking the Atomic City: Life Among the Decadent and the Depraved of Chornobyl

Trainspotting meets A Field Guide to Getting Lost in this rare portrait of the dystopian reality that is Chornobyl today, and the marginalized people who now call the Exclusion Zone their home.

Since the Chornobyl nuclear disaster in April 1986, the area still remains a toxic, forbidden wasteland. But as with all dangerous places, it attracts a wild assortment of adventurers who climb over the barbed wire in the middle of the night to witness the aftermath of catastrophe in the flesh.

Markiyan Kamysh, whose father worked as an on-site disaster liquidator of Chornobyl, works as a “stalker,” guiding people who dare to venture illegally into the disaster area for thrills. By turns lyrical and confessional, Stalking the Atomic City unveils the state of the site today and the unusual communities that have found a home in the desolate place known as the Exclusion Zone.

Kamysh tells us about criminals who hide in the abandoned buildings, the policemen who chase them, and romantic utopists who have built families here, even as deadly toxic waste lingers in the buildings, playgrounds, and streams.

An extraordinary guide to this alien world, Kamysh has unique access and expertise as well as a deep personal connection to this dystopian reality. Complete with stunning photographs by the author, Stalking the Atomic City is a haunting account of what total autonomy could mean in our growingly fractured world.