Pyropolitics Fire and the Political

“With this subtle, smart, and well-documented book, Michael Marder authoritatively weighs in on an old discussion about the role that fundamental elements (water, air, earth, fire) play in the construction and destruction of societies. This is a brilliant contribution to political metaphorology, useful for understanding the logic behind the combustible world in which we live.”
—Daniel Innerarity, Director of Globernance: Institute for Democratic Governance, San Sebastián, Spain
“In a highly suggestive scenario, Michael Marder captures the unfounded relationship between politics and fire. More than earth, water, and air, it is fire that best represents the political turning point that characterizes hypermodernity. At the heart of a secularization that has not erased political theology, fire constitutes the incandescent element that envelops, as a risk and an extreme possibility, the language and practice of politics.”
—Roberto Esposito, professor of theoretical philosophy, Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy
“This is a staggeringly original and provocative piece of writing. Many other adjectives could be applied—scintillating, dazzling, brilliant, illuminating, scorching, explosive, absolutely burning in its urgency—, but it’s hard to use any of these terms innocently any longer after reading this fascinating, lucid, rigorous meditation, which strikes to the heart of the contemporary epoch.“
—Rebecca Comay, Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Literature, University of Toronto

“In
Pyropolitics:

Fire and the Political
,
Michael Marder breaks the silence that envelops the atavistic and igneous element by proposing an original and compelling reinterpretation of the centrality of fire in our political and philosophical life … Through the ingenious pyropolitical lenses offered by this book, global politics becomes what one might call theoretical pointillism, the most appropriate graphic metaphor to describe the distinctive types of violence that characterize our age, from the recent attacks in Paris to the targeted killings carried out by the Obama administration.“

—Antonio Cerella, Nottingham Trent University

“Scintillating!“
—Jay M. Bernstein, University Distinguished Professor, Department of Philosophy, New School for Social Research
"The complexities calling for our attention are better analysed when displayed prismatically and the image of fire, as Marder shows, ideally serves this purpose. [...] 'Pyropolitics' is a highly original study covering a lot of material."
—Sean Sheehan, The Prisma.