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The Cosmonaut Who Couldn’t Stop Smiling : The Life and Legend of Yuri Gagarin / Andrew L. Jenks.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: NIU Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian StudiesPublisher: Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2019]Copyright date: 2019Description: 1 online resource (323 p.) : 28 illustrationsContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9781501757686
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 629.450092 23/eng/20231120
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Acknowledgments -- ONE- Yuri Gagarin and the Many Faces of Modern Russia -- TWO-A Victor's Congress Baby -- THREE-The Industrial Boys -- FOUR-The Chief Designer -- FIVE-The Flight that Launched a Thousand Rumors -- SIX-Exegesis -- SEVEN-Homo Sovieticus -- EIGHT -Sacred Lies, Profane Truths -- NINE-Landscapes ofRussianness, 1991-2011 -- Notes -- Index
Summary: "Let's go!" With that, the boyish, grinning Yuri Gagarin launched into space on April 12, 1961, becoming the first human being to exit Earth's orbit. The twenty-seven-year-old lieutenant colonel departed for the stars from within the shadowy world of the Soviet military-industrial complex. Barbed wires, no-entry placards, armed guards, false identities, mendacious maps, and a myriad of secret signs had hidden Gagarin from prying outsiders—not even his friends or family knew what he had been up to. Coming less than four years after the Russians launched Sputnik into orbit, Gagarin's voyage was cause for another round of capitalist shock and Soviet rejoicing.The Cosmonaut Who Couldn't Stop Smiling relates this twentieth-century icon's remarkable life while exploring the fascinating world of Soviet culture. Gagarin's flight brought him massive international fame—in the early 1960s, he was possibly the most photographed person in the world, flashing his trademark smile while rubbing elbows with the varied likes of Nehru, Castro, Queen Elizabeth II, and Italian sex symbol Gina Lollobrigida. Outside of the spotlight, Andrew L. Jenks reveals, his tragic and mysterious death in a jet crash became fodder for morality tales and conspiracy theories in his home country, and, long after his demise, his life continues to provide grist for the Russian popular-culture mill.This is the story of a legend, both the official one and the one of myth, which reflected the fantasies, perversions, hopes and dreams of Gagarin's fellow Russians. With this rich, lively chronicle of Gagarin's life and times, Jenks recreates the elaborately secretive world of space-age Russia while providing insights into Soviet history that will captivate a range of readers.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781501757686

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Acknowledgments -- ONE- Yuri Gagarin and the Many Faces of Modern Russia -- TWO-A Victor's Congress Baby -- THREE-The Industrial Boys -- FOUR-The Chief Designer -- FIVE-The Flight that Launched a Thousand Rumors -- SIX-Exegesis -- SEVEN-Homo Sovieticus -- EIGHT -Sacred Lies, Profane Truths -- NINE-Landscapes ofRussianness, 1991-2011 -- Notes -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

"Let's go!" With that, the boyish, grinning Yuri Gagarin launched into space on April 12, 1961, becoming the first human being to exit Earth's orbit. The twenty-seven-year-old lieutenant colonel departed for the stars from within the shadowy world of the Soviet military-industrial complex. Barbed wires, no-entry placards, armed guards, false identities, mendacious maps, and a myriad of secret signs had hidden Gagarin from prying outsiders—not even his friends or family knew what he had been up to. Coming less than four years after the Russians launched Sputnik into orbit, Gagarin's voyage was cause for another round of capitalist shock and Soviet rejoicing.The Cosmonaut Who Couldn't Stop Smiling relates this twentieth-century icon's remarkable life while exploring the fascinating world of Soviet culture. Gagarin's flight brought him massive international fame—in the early 1960s, he was possibly the most photographed person in the world, flashing his trademark smile while rubbing elbows with the varied likes of Nehru, Castro, Queen Elizabeth II, and Italian sex symbol Gina Lollobrigida. Outside of the spotlight, Andrew L. Jenks reveals, his tragic and mysterious death in a jet crash became fodder for morality tales and conspiracy theories in his home country, and, long after his demise, his life continues to provide grist for the Russian popular-culture mill.This is the story of a legend, both the official one and the one of myth, which reflected the fantasies, perversions, hopes and dreams of Gagarin's fellow Russians. With this rich, lively chronicle of Gagarin's life and times, Jenks recreates the elaborately secretive world of space-age Russia while providing insights into Soviet history that will captivate a range of readers.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 26. Aug 2024)