The Cosmonaut Who Couldn't Stop Smiling

By Andrew L. Jenks,

Book cover of The Cosmonaut Who Couldn't Stop Smiling

Book description

"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…

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Why read it?

1 author picked The Cosmonaut Who Couldn't Stop Smiling as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This book explores the Soviet efforts to turn a living person into a propaganda icon that would embody and transmit communist values around the world. While Gagarin’s open and warm personality did resonate with wide audiences, he felt increasingly uneasy about his assigned public role, which forced him to lie, distort, and pretend. 

I find this well-documented story an excellent illustration of the Soviet use of cosmonauts in the propaganda machine: to function effectively as propaganda tools, the cosmonauts had to fulfill ritual public functions at the expense of training for new flights, and to swap their professional identity for…

From Slava's list on astronauts and cosmonauts.

Want books like The Cosmonaut Who Couldn't Stop Smiling?

Our community of 11,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Cosmonaut Who Couldn't Stop Smiling.

Browse books like The Cosmonaut Who Couldn't Stop Smiling

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in astronauts, the Soviet Union, and civilization?

Astronauts 65 books
The Soviet Union 374 books
Civilization 224 books