Reviews
""With Light Steam is travel writing at its most insightful and most intimate. Wrapped in a towel or not, sweating profusely and beaten lightly by sticks, Bryon MacWilliams goes deep into the viscera of ordinary Russian life and finds there something true about his own troubled, steadily racing heart." --Ken Kalfus, author of A Disorder Peculiar to the Country "I love this book! Even if you have never taken a banya, nor been to Russia, this book will convince you the banya could very well be Russia's greatest export." --Mikkel Aaland, author of Sweat "With Light Steam skillfully blends Russian culture, ethnography, and history with personal reminiscences and experiences to produce a thoroughly engaging book that illuminates the Russian soul." --Christine D. Worobec, author of Possessed (Northern Illinois University Press, 2001)", "This book is introspective American travel writing at its best. A genre-defying mosaic of memoir, historical research and a reflection on time and place, With Light Steam is easily in a league with Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier for spectacular American travel writing on Russia." --Paul Connell, Newcity Lit "Often very frank (this is a PG-13 read at least) and open, With Light Steam is a personal and engaging look at a side of Russian life that few westerners can claim entry to or experience in....[MacWilliams] is a refreshingly self-deprecating, easy-going traveler and a superb storyteller. This is a book not to be missed." -- Russian Life, This book is introspective American travel writing at its best. A genre-defying mosaic of memoir, historical research and a reflection on time and place, With Light Steam is easily in a league with Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier for spectacular American travel writing on Russia., ""This book is introspective American travel writing at its best. A genre-defying mosaic of memoir, historical research and a reflection on time and place, With Light Steam is easily in a league with Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier for spectacular American travel writing on Russia." -Paul Connell, Newcity Lit "Often very frank (this is a PG-13 read at least) and open, With Light Steam is a personal and engaging look at a side of Russian life that few westerners can claim entry to or experience in....[MacWilliams] is a refreshingly self-deprecating, easy-going traveler and a superb storyteller. This is a book not to be missed." -Russian Life", Often very frank (this is a PG-13 read at least) and open, With Light Steam is a personal and engaging look at a side of Russian life that few westerners can claim entry to or experience in.... MacWilliams is a refreshingly self-deprecating, easy-going traveler and a superb storyteller. This is a book not to be missed., Often very frank (this is a PG-13 read at least) and open, With Light Steam is a personal and engaging look at a side of Russian life that few westerners can claim entry to or experience in....[MacWilliams] is a refreshingly self-deprecating, easy-going traveler and a superb storyteller. This is a book not to be missed. —Russian Life|9780875807089|, With Light Steam is travel writing at its most insightful and most intimate. Wrapped in a towel or not, sweating profusely and beaten lightly by sticks, Bryon MacWilliams goes deep into the viscera of ordinary Russian life and finds there something true about his own troubled, steadily racing heart." ––Ken Kalfus, author of A Disorder Peculiar to the Country I love this book! Even if you have never taken a banya, nor been to Russia, this book will convince you the banya could very well be Russia's greatest export." ––Mikkel Aaland, author of Sweat With Light Steam skillfully blends Russian culture, ethnography, and history with personal reminiscences and experiences to produce a thoroughly engaging book that illuminates the Russian soul." ––Christine D. Worobec, author of Possessed (Northern Illinois University Press, 2001), " With Light Steam is travel writing at its most insightful and most intimate. Wrapped in a towel or not, sweating profusely and beaten lightly by sticks, Bryon MacWilliams goes deep into the viscera of ordinary Russian life and finds there something true about his own troubled, steadily racing heart." --Ken Kalfus, author of A Disorder Peculiar to the Country "I love this book! Even if you have never taken a banya, nor been to Russia, this book will convince you the banya could very well be Russia's greatest export." --Mikkel Aaland, author of Sweat " With Light Steam skillfully blends Russian culture, ethnography, and history with personal reminiscences and experiences to produce a thoroughly engaging book that illuminates the Russian soul." --Christine D. Worobec, author of Possessed (Northern Illinois University Press, 2001)
