"A gripping account of taxation told through lively, dramatic, and sometimes ludicrous stories drawn from around the world and across the ages Governments have always struggled to tax in ways that are effective and tolerably fair. Sometimes they fail grotesquely, as when, in 1898, the British...

The Portuguese in the East Asian seas in the 16th century -- The structure and content of Namban trade -- The Namban trade and Nagasaki merchants: structure of investment and capital injection -- Macao and the Namban trade: the "maritime loan" debt problem -- Religion and power in Macao -- The...