‘This is a brilliant book about guns which isn't about guns. Instead, it's about progress, intellectual and industrial, seen from a wholly original and convincing new perspective. Full of surprises, unexpected connections and portraits of remarkable figures from our recent history, I can recommend it without reservation.’ – Andrew Marr ‘Son of a gun! Andrew Nahum is no flash in the pan. But if I called him a hot shot, he would go ballistic. Indeed, the everyday prevalence of firearm metaphors reveals the deep resonance the gun has in culture. Nahum is a distinguished historian of science and technology, and he has written Paths of Fire with a nice combination of cool authority and gentle wit. It is a completely original study. Who cannot be engrossed by connecting Buffalo Bill to cybernetics, via Mikhail Kalashnikov?’ – Stephen Bayley