This work is not actually a "history", rather it contains translations, with commentary, of three late nineteenth and early twentieth century treatises on coca and cocaine, plus other documents. "An exploration of the important role of the Netherlands and Indonesia to the cocaine industry at the turn of the last century. It contains annotated translations of three rare, previously untranslated late-19th and early-20th century books on the chemistry, botany and economics of the cocaine industry. One of the translations deals entirely with the Indonesian cocaine trade and contains a detailed account of coca cultivation in Java. The other two translations include general histories of the industry but are written from different perspectives" (Publisher).