To celebrate World Book Day, I published yesterday Gifts from the Gods (here on amazon.co.uk and here on amazon.com). Following The River of Gold, in which I describe the importance of rivers for trade and taxation, Gifts follows the items of trade, from their initial exploitation by Homo sapiens to our conquest of the planet. Starting with obsidian, the first gift traded widely, the book follows Tax Man’s social and physical development, his industrialisation of salt production, the evolution of money. Tax-collectors, tax-payers, avoiders and evaders affected the political geography at each stage of his development. While the gifts remained atomic, they were relatively easy to transport and tax. The book finishes with those electronic gifts which make up the vast majority of value traded today, and tax-collectors’ attempts to profit from them.
First customers have already bought Gifts from the Gods, which is now available from your local amazon web-site, and all good book stores. Please do let me know what you think, and help to spread the word with your reviews on Amazon or Goodreads.
Tony Milne 