Book on Chernobyl nuclear accident wins $5,000 prize

This photo released by Simon & Schuster shows "Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster" by Adam Higginbotham, winner of the William E. Colby Award, given for an outstanding book on military or intelligence history. (Simon & Schuster via AP) (Uncredited)

NEW YORK – Adam Higginbotham's “Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster” has won a $5,000 prize.

Higginbotham has received the William E. Colby Award, given for an outstanding book on military or intelligence history. The award, announced Monday, is named for the late CIA director. It's presented by Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont, and sponsored in part by the Chicago-based Pritzker Military Foundation.

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The Colby award was established in 1999. Previous winners include Karl Marlantes' novel “Matterhorn” and Dexter Filkins' “The Forever War.”

Colby was CIA director during the Nixon and Ford administrations.

Earlier this year, “Midnight in Chernobyl” won the American Library Association’s Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.


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