Sophia Fortezza, an Italian merchant's daughter, seeks to escape her debtors through a life of adventure and romance. At the outset of the Thirty Years War, Sophia is about to experience the trauma of battle and the pain of the whip. But she need not endure these shocks alone. New friends like the Spanish soldier Don Alfonso and the English peasant James Fletcher will all suffer equally under the banner of the honorable Talbot Company. Chapters 1 to 29 will be hosted for free on royalroad.com

Dr Talbot traces the history of the fundamental principles of English company law, including the doctrine of separate corporate personality, director’s duties, minority protection and the doctrine of ultra vires from both a black letter and contextual perspective. Relevant aspects of the Companies Act 2006 are thoroughly examined. Drawing on the influence of American law and scholarship, the book considers the ideas which have informed corporate governance in England . It includes a case study of mutual building societies’ march to the market and corporate identity. The hybrid approach adopted in the text provides a contextual and critical framework in which to understand company law as well as a broad picture in black letter law terms. The aim is to invigorate what many students and academics consider a dry subject by uncovering the social factors which continue to inform this area of law - and the political nature of the law itself. Dr Talbot maintains that modern company law is shaped by three main factors – economics, ideology and existing law. The state of the law at any one time is determined by the constantly shifting relationship between these factors.

Text and illustrations provide a guide to underwater animal and plant life. Includes information on exploration, scientific research and conservation.

The undergraduate years are a special time of life for many students. They are a time for study, yes, but also a time for making independent decisions over what to do beyond formal education. This book is based on a nine-year study of collegiate a cappella - a socio-musical practice that has exploded on college campuses since the 1990s. A defining feature of collegiate a cappella is that it is a student-run leisure activity undertaken by undergraduate students at institutions both large and small, prestigious and lower-status. With rare exceptions, participants are not music majors yet many participants interviewed had previous musical experience both in and out of school settings. Motivations for staying musically involved varied considerably - from those who felt they could not imagine life without a musical outlet to those who joined on a whim. Collegiate a cappella is about much more than singing cover songs. It sustains multiple forms of inequality through its audition practices and its performative enactment of gender and heteronormativity. This book sheds light on how undergraduates conceptualize vocation and avocation within the context of formal education, holding implications for educators at all levels.

Progressive Corporate Governance for the 21st Century is a wide ranging and ambitious study of why corporate governance is the shape that it is, and how it can be better. The book sets out the emergence of shareholder primacy orientated corporate governance using a study of historical developments in the United Kingdom and the United States. Talbot sees shareholder primacy as a political choice made by governments, not a ‘natural’ feature of the inevitable market. She describes the periods of progressive corporate governance which governments promoted in the middle of the 20th century using a close examination of the theories of the company which then prevailed. She critically examines the rise of neoliberal theories on the company and corporate governance and argues that they have had a negative and regressive impact on social and economic development. In examining contemporary corporate governance she shows how regulatory styles as informed and described by prevailing regulatory theories, enables neoliberal outcomes. She illustrates how United Kingdom-derived corporate governance codes have informed the corporate governance initiatives of European and global institutions. From this she argues that neoliberalism has re-entered ex command transition economies through those United Kingdom and OECD inspired corporate governance Codes over a decade after the earlier failed and destructive neoliberal prescriptions for transition had been rejected. Throughout, Talbot argues that shareholder primacy has socially regressive outcomes and firmly takes a stand against current initiatives to enhance shareholder voting in such issues as director remuneration. The book concludes with a series of proposals to recalibrate the power between those involved in company activity; shareholders, directors and employees so that the public company can begin to work for the public and not shareholders.