Publisher's Synopsis
According to mythology, people became truly "human" by learning to domesticate fire and cook food. Other great transformation - the birth of agriculture and the industrial revolution - represent huge leaps forward in our relations with fire.;This book examines Homer and the Hebrew Bible, the Vestal Virgins and pioneering Roman fire brigades, the role of Hell-fire in Christianity's "civilizing campaign" and developments from the age of steam to "fire-powered" cars and nuclear fusion. Even today, bush and forest fires caused by short-sighted farming policies or sheer high spirits contribute to the disastrous international wood shortage. This work of wide-ranging scholarship both illuminates such current concerns, and makes readers look again at the whole course of human history.;Johan Goudsblom is the author of "Dutch Society", "Sociology in the Balance", "Nihilism and Culture" and "Human History and Social Process".
