War, Revenue, and State Building: Financing the Development of the American State

Arguing that America would not have become the global superpower it is without a sufficient revenue system, Pollack (legal studies, U. of Delaware) illustrates the connections between war, revenue, and institutional development in the US. He traces the sources of public revenue available at different points in America's history, especially times of war; the revenue strategies pursued by political leaders; and the impact of the strategies on the development of the state. He reviews theories of state development, including theories of the European state, and outlines how the US revenue system was devised during the Civil War and was perfected in the twentieth century with the national income tax, and how the limited ability of the national government to raise revenue during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries inhibited America's development, as well as the state's fiscal organization and security during the present period of national debt. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)