Prologue
Introduction
Ch. 1. "Older Even Than the Tsar"
Ch. 2. "The Great Healer"
Ch. 3. "Soot, Dirt, and Human Flesh Packed Together"
Ch. 4. "Our People Love the Banya . . .But Nothing Good Comes of
It"
Ch. 5. "The Onslaught of Civilization"
Ch. 6. "Either Socialism Will Defeat the Louse or the Louse Will
Defeat Socialism"
Ch. 7. "Things are Bad on the Banya Front"
Ch. 8. "Here Nobody is Naked, There is No Need for Shame"
Ch. 9. "The Banya . . . .Is it Necessary?"
Ch. 10. "In the Banya I Changed My Worldview"
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
Ethan Pollock is Associate Professor of History and Slavic Studies at Brown University. He is the author of Stalin and the Soviet Science Wars.
"What does it mean to be clean? That is the fundamental question
underlying Ethan Pollock's fascinating study of the Russian banya,
or bathhouse. For Russians, getting clean is not merely about
personal hygiene...As Pollock's book makes clear, the banya, with
its emphasis on sociability and community, is more than a physical
space. It is a state of mind, a place where one can 'find meaning
in the world.'" -- Darra Goldstein, Times Literary Supplement
"As Ethan Pollock explains in his delightful, if sometimes
nauseating, history of the banya, Russians take pride in this
peculiar institution, which they long regarded as intrinsic to
Russian identityâ.For Russians, the banya purges the soul." -- Gary
Saul Morson, Wall Street Journal
"Ethan Pollock's compelling and imaginative study shows that
because it has been a constant physical presence through the ages,
the banya offers a fascinating prism through which to track the
social and cultural history of Russiaâ.Without the Banya We Would
Perish is a nuanced and imaginative exploration of the tensions
between salvation and perdition that have haunted Russia's history
across the centuries." -- Daniel Beer, Literary Review
"In Pollock's account, the banya is an inarguably quintessential
Russian institution, but also reveals perennial institutional
dysfunction." -- Randy Rosenthal, Los Angeles Review of Books
"Pollock has produced a rarity: a work of solid scholarship that is
also an elegant page-turner. It traces the history of the Russian
steam bath all the way back to the Middle Ages, exploring how its
image and function have shifted over time." -- Maria Lipman,
Foreign Affairs
"Pollock tells the long story of the banya in chronological order,
exploring countless nuances of social reality and artistic
representation, gathering its recurring themes....In the whimsical
epilogue, Pollock immerses himself in the illusion of the banya's
timelessness. His friends are transformed, in his daydream, into
the many historical figures, writers, and fictional characters
invoked in the pages in between, all bathing with him in the
parilka." -- Rachel Polonsky, New York Review of Books
"original and engaging ... this is a fascinating book that will be
of interest to historians of culture and medicine of both the
imperial and Soviet periods. The price point, the accessible style
(minimal Russian and developed passages of historical context), and
the interesting subject matter make it an affordable choice for
undergraduate courses as well as graduate reading seminars. For
historians of Russian culture, it is a welcome exploration of
an
ubiquitous practice." -- Tricia Starks, Russian Review
"Pollock immerses his reader in a deep, stimulating history of the
Russian banya. The jury may be out on the banya's salutary effects
on bathers' health, but there's no question that Pollock's book is
a boon to Russian studies." -- Eliot Borenstein, author of Plots
against Russia: Conspiracy and Fantasy after Socialism
"Sacred, inspiring, magical; or indecent, barbarous, and outmoded?
Ethan Pollock's fascinating and vivid study of the banya
answers-without the banya we would perish! Peopled with courtiers
and warriors, doctors and literati, commissars and countless
bathhouse attendants, this book entertains as it rejuvenates your
senses." -- Dan Healey, University of Oxford
"In Ethan Pollock's creative telling, the long history of the
Russian banya bubbles with insights on health, hygiene, faith,
leisure, and the nation, among other topics. This is steamy history
of the best kind! A wonderful book."--Willard Sunderland,
University of Cincinnati
"In this bracingly original and eloquently argued book, Ethan
Pollock traces the history of one of the few constants in Russia's
turbulent past, the bathhouse, which survived Peter the Great's
westernization and Lenin and Stalin's sovietization. Opening this
book, readers encounter an intriguing cast of characters-from tsars
and serfs to Scythians and New Russians-philosophizing, communing,
and sweating together. Pollock's masterful storytelling highlights
the
banya's vibrant historicity, amid its constancy, and illuminates
thousands of years of Russian history one steam-filled room at a
time."--Alexis Peri, author of The War Within: Diaries from the
Siege
of Leningrad
"Ethan Pollock takes us to the banya for a good long soak. His book
follows the history of Russia's most beloved public institution
from its steamy beginnings in the Slavic wildwood to the era of
Gorky Park and beyond. With its emphasis on the banya in Russian
literature, culture and the arts, this is a book with something for
everyone. True banya lovers will regret only that there is not yet
a waterproof edition."--Catherine Merridale, author of
Lenin on the Train
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