The book is successful both as an analysis of metaphor and an introduction to each of the text types it discusses. A broad range of linguists, religious studies scholars, theologians, and political scientists will find something useful within it, and the ability to draw them together in one text is especially admirable.

CADAAD

[It is] a substantial, relevant and important contribution, much like the author's previous works. There can be no reservation in recommending it.

Discourse & Communication

Impressively detailed ... there is little doubt as to the contribution this monograph makes to the field: not only does it enhance our understanding of how we conceptualise fire ... but also proves how the intricacies of metaphoric thinking have and will continue to shape some of the most crucial aspects of the world in which we live.

Metaphor and the Social World

The pheonomenon of fire has fascinated humans from the very beginnings of our history. In this highly accessible book, Jonathan Charteris-Black spells out the reasons why this is the case. Through doing a detailed cognitive linguistic analysis, he shows the metaphor-based symbolic meanings of fire in many of its uses in mythology, culture, religion, and current politics. A superb achievement - with wide-ranging implications for understanding how language, culture, and mind work together.

Zoltán Kövecses, Professor of Linguistics, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary

Jonathan Charteris-Black explores fire-metaphors across space and time, but argues an ambitious thesis. Fire is not simply a metaphor, but rather a transformative force from which metaphor itself arises as a linguistic universal. This book is rigorous and challenging.

Terrell Carver, Professor of Political Theory, University of Bristol, UK