On August 20, 1940, Leon Trotsky invited a man he knew only as Jacques Mornard into his study. Mornard waited for Trotsky to sit, then smashed an ice pick he had hidden in his raincoat into Trotsky’s skull. For over a decade, Trotsky’s greatest enemy, Joseph Stalin, had been trying to arrange his murder. Stalin’s agents had hunted him across Europe and into a lonely, bitter exile in Mexico. He...

This book represents yet another attempt to unravel the phenomenon known as the Russian banya. Alongside historical and practical sections—which allow readers to trace the traditions of banya culture, or to independently build a banya, construct a stove, install a plunge pool, and prepare and administer wellness treatments—this volume offers a unique perspective on the banya experience,...