With Light Steam

In 1996 Bryon MacWilliams left the relative stability of the United States for the chaos of post-Soviet Russia, and stayed. Over the course of nearly twelve years he reported for the world's leading publications, and sought out the best baths - or banyas - everywhere he went. Writing in a highly engaging style, MacWilliams travels the country to convey the breadth of banya culture and what it means to steam, a process that is at once a simple cleansing and a deep purification. It awakens the body and quiets the mind, generating waves of good feeling akin to an endorphin high. Each chapter of this splendid book is an episode-spanning from several hours to several days - of his journeys to the far North, Moscow, the Ural Mountains, the Solovetsky Islands, and a southern stretch of the Volga River.

Year

2014

Language

English

Publisher

Northern Illinois University Press

Editions

1

Pages

224

ISBN

9780875807089

Data source: Wikidata