The very word taxes sends shivers up spines. Yet very few realize the tremendous impact that taxation has had on civilization. Charles Adams changes that in this newly revised and enlarged edition of his fascinating history. Taxation, says Adams, has been a catalyst of history, a powerful influence on and sometimes the direct cause of many of the famous events that have marched across the world's stage as empires collided and battled for the right to tax the loser.

For Good and Evil is the first book to examine how taxation has been a key factor in world events. Like the Rosetta Stone - itself a tax document - the book sheds fresh light onto much of history.