Author Guide · Narrative History
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In 2006 Adam Higginbotham went to Moscow and Kiev on assignment for London’s Observer Magazine to report on Chernobyl. He kept going for more than ten years, collecting interviews, letters, unpublished memoirs and newly declassified Soviet documents, and the result was Midnight in Chernobyl (2019). Born in Somerset in 1968, he had edited the London style magazine The Face and been the US correspondent of The Sunday Telegraph Magazine before settling in New York. His second book, Challenger (2024), takes the same approach to the other technological disaster of 1986. This guide covers his two key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 2 key books · 2019–2024 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Adam Higginbotham has written two books: Midnight in Chernobyl (2019), winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, and Challenger (2024), winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. Start with Midnight in Chernobyl; both are long, documented accounts of a disaster from 1986, told through the people involved.
Where to Start with Adam Higginbotham
If you want his defining book
→ Midnight in Chernobyl (2019) — the 1986 reactor explosion and the Soviet cover-up.
If you watched HBO’s Chernobyl
→ Midnight in Chernobyl (2019) — the documented story behind the series.
If you want his most recent book
→ Challenger (2024) — the space shuttle disaster of the same year.
2 Adam Higginbotham Books, in Order
Midnight in Chernobyl
A reconstruction of the explosion of Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear plant on 26 April 1986 and everything that followed: the firefighters, the evacuation of Pripyat, the clean-up and the trial of the plant’s managers. It draws on more than ten years of interviews, letters, unpublished memoirs and declassified documents, and shows how the Soviet authorities knew of faults in the reactor’s design yet blamed the operators. It won the 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction and the William E. Colby Award, was one of The New York Times’s ten best books of 2019, and has been translated into 25 languages.
Challenger
The loss of the space shuttle Challenger on 28 January 1986, when it broke apart shortly after liftoff and killed all seven crew, including the schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. Higginbotham follows the astronauts and their families, NASA managers and the engineers at Morton Thiokol, who warned that the rubber O-rings in the solid rocket boosters could fail in the freezing weather and were overruled on the eve of the launch. Published by Avid Reader Press in May 2024, it became a New York Times bestseller, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction and the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction for 2024, and was a finalist for the 2025 Carnegie Medal.
In What Order to Read Adam Higginbotham
The two books are not connected, so either can come first. Most readers start with Midnight in Chernobyl, the book that made his name; Challenger uses the same structure, with several groups of people followed up to the day of the disaster and through the inquiry after it.
If you want the Chernobyl story from another angle, Svetlana Alexievich’s Voices from Chernobyl is an oral history, the testimony of survivors in their own words, without Higginbotham’s technical and political reconstruction.
A reading path
1. Midnight in Chernobyl (2019)
2. Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich, as a companion
3. Challenger (2024)
The years · 1968–2025
Quick facts about Adam Higginbotham
- Known for
- Higginbotham is known for long, document-based reconstructions of the two great technological disasters of 1986, Chernobyl and the Challenger explosion.
- 1968
- Born in Somerset, England
- 1998
- Editor of The Face
- 2006
- Starts reporting on Chernobyl for The Observer
- 2025
- National Book Critics Circle Award for Challenger
- Born
- 1968, Somerset, England
- Lives
- New York City, with his family
- Edited
- The Face, 1998–1999
- Also
- US correspondent, The Sunday Telegraph Magazine
- Writes for
- The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Wired, GQ, Smithsonian
- Prizes
- Andrew Carnegie Medal (2020); National Book Critics Circle Award and Kirkus Prize (2024)
The red mark is 2019: Midnight in Chernobyl, the book that made his name.
How Adam Higginbotham Writes: Disaster from the Documents Up
Higginbotham builds his books from primary sources over many years. He began reporting on Chernobyl in 2006, working in Moscow and Kiev, and Midnight in Chernobyl rests on more than ten years of interviews with participants, their letters and unpublished memoirs, trial records and newly declassified documents. Much of what had been published before, he told NPR’s Fresh Air in 2019, was a fraction of what really happened.
He writes history like a thriller, cutting between groups of people as the day of the disaster approaches: in Challenger, the astronauts and their families, NASA managers and the Thiokol engineers. The technical passages, on the RBMK reactor or the O-ring seals of the shuttle’s boosters, are explained step by step, and Publishers Weekly praised how clear and meticulous they are in Challenger.
Both books make the same argument: the disaster was decided long before the day itself, by design compromises, budget pressure and institutions that would not hear bad news, and the official version afterwards blamed the people at the end of the chain. For writers who work the same way, see Authors like Adam Higginbotham.
Watch
Adam Higginbotham on Midnight in Chernobyl
Higginbotham talks about Midnight in Chernobyl and the years of reporting behind it, in a Talks at GS video published in April 2020.
Frequently asked questions about Adam Higginbotham’s books
How many books has Adam Higginbotham written?
Two: Midnight in Chernobyl (2019) and Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space (2024).
What are Adam Higginbotham’s books in order?
Midnight in Chernobyl (2019), then Challenger (2024). They are independent of each other, so you can read them in either order.
Where should I start with Adam Higginbotham?
With Midnight in Chernobyl, his first and best-known book. If you are more interested in spaceflight, Challenger works just as well as a first read.
What is Adam Higginbotham’s most famous book?
Midnight in Chernobyl (2019). It won the 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction and the William E. Colby Award, was one of The New York Times’s ten best books of 2019 and has been translated into 25 languages.
Is Midnight in Chernobyl accurate?
It is built on more than ten years of interviews with people who were there, letters, unpublished memoirs and declassified Soviet documents, and it corrects parts of the official story: the Soviet authorities knew the reactor design was flawed but blamed the operators, and the official death toll of about 30 left out many later deaths. It is narrative history, not a technical report, but every scene is sourced.
How does Midnight in Chernobyl compare with HBO’s Chernobyl series?
The 2019 miniseries was made independently of the book. Speaking to CBS News in June 2019, Higginbotham called its production design “extraordinary” and said it was right about officials’ reckless handling of radiation, but that its invented scientist, Ulana Khomyuk, was unnecessary, because many nuclear scientists had known about the reactor’s problems all along. The book covers far more, including the years before the accident and the trial afterwards.
What awards has Challenger won?
The National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction and the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction, both for 2024. It was also a finalist for the 2025 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction and a New York Times bestseller and Notable Book.
Is Adam Higginbotham working on a new book?
No new book has been announced. His website and publisher list Challenger (2024) as his most recent.
Who is Adam Higginbotham?
A British journalist, born in Somerset in 1968, who lives in New York City. He edited The Face from 1998 to 1999, was US correspondent for The Sunday Telegraph Magazine, and has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Wired, GQ and Smithsonian.
Should I read Voices from Chernobyl with Midnight in Chernobyl?
They work well together. Svetlana Alexievich’s Voices from Chernobyl is an oral history made of survivors’ testimony, while Higginbotham reconstructs what happened inside the plant and the government. See our guide to Svetlana Alexievich’s books.
Footnotes
- Adam Higginbotham — Wikipedia
- About — adamhigginbotham.com
- Adam Higginbotham — Wilson Center
- Fresh Air interview on Chernobyl — NPR, 2019
- Chernobyl disaster: How accurate is the HBO series? — CBS News, 2019
- Challenger — Publishers Weekly review, 2024
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“As it turns out, we knew a fraction of what really happened.”
— Adam Higginbotham on Chernobyl, interview with NPR’s Fresh Air (2019)
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