Fiscal capitalism and the dismantling of citizenship in Puno, Peru

This excellent history of Peru proposes and proves an entirely new thesis on its nineteenth century: the changes in its economy that might have led to a better future were undone by taxes and other demands at the national, provincial and local levels. The failure of Peru owes a good deal to wartime taxes and local tax farming of the countryside. Professor Christine Hunefeldt does for the mundane issue of taxation what she has already done for Peruvian slavery and women’s rights; she writes a new history based on the evolution of a tax structure that changed for the worse over time. This is...