Mark Nicholls

This book explores the development and application of the law of treason in England across more than a thousand years, placing this legal history within a broader historical context.Describing many high-profile prosecutions and trials, the book focuses on the statutes, ordinances and customs that have at various times governed, limited and shaped this worst of crimes. It explores the reasons why treason coalesced around specific offences agreed by both the monarch and the wider political nation, why it became an essential instrument of enforcement in high politics, and why, over the past three hundred years, it has gradually fallen into disuse while remaining on the statute book. This book also considers why treason as both a word and a concept remains so potent in wider modern culture, investigating prevalent current misconceptions about what is and what is not treason. It concludes by suggesting that the abolition or 'death' of treason in the near future, while a logical next step, is by no means a foregone conclusion.The Rise and Fall of Treason in English History is a thorough academic introduction for scholars and history students, as well as general readers with an interest in British political and legal history.

This book explores the development and application of the law of treason in England across more than a thousand years, placing this legal history within a broader historical context.Describing many high-profile prosecutions and trials, the book focuses on the statutes, ordinances and customs that have at various times governed, limited and shaped this worst of crimes. It explores the reasons why treason coalesced around specific offences agreed by both the monarch and the wider political nation, why it became an essential instrument of enforcement in high politics, and why, over the past three hundred years, it has gradually fallen into disuse while remaining on the statute book. This book also considers why treason as both a word and a concept remains so potent in wider modern culture, investigating prevalent current misconceptions about what is and what is not treason. It concludes by suggesting that the abolition or 'death' of treason in the near future, while a logical next step, is by no means a foregone conclusion.The Rise and Fall of Treason in English History is a thorough academic introduction for scholars and history students, as well as general readers with an interest in British political and legal history.

This book is the most thorough exploration to date of the many ways in which a wild creature has been absorbed, reimagined and represented across the ages in all of the major art forms. The authors consider not only how the identity of sharks in the natural environment became incorporated into a cultural environment but also how sharks came to be considered the most feared creatures in the open oceans as a consequence of this incorporation. Yet sharks are especially important in helping to maintain a balance that is essential to the health of the oceans. The book begins with a treatment of the three sharks at the top of global shark-attack files from scientific, economic and environmental perspectives. Subsequent chapters engage with cultural representations of sharks in poetry, drama, art, novels, screenplay adaptations and films. Through an exploration of the ways in which sharks have been represented in human culture through the centuries, this book alerts the global community to the importance of sharks as a common cultural heritage. It aims to change perceptions of sharks so that they can become more revered than feared. The authors of this book argue that an increased understanding of sharks should lead to the development of better strategies for shark and human interactions.This book will be of great interest to researchers and students of the Environmental Humanities, Cultural History and the Arts. It is also excellent supplementary reading for courses in Zoology and Marine Science.

Athena, an Australian nurse working overseas, is raped and murdered. Her father, John, must decide whether to grant clemency to her murderer, who is facing execution by beheading. Margaret, an ex-school teacher on a career change as a junior Australian Government official, is sent in to counsel and assist the grieving man. When the situation proves predictably challenging, Margaret's daughter, Nina, provides a clarity of counsel and assistance that is so irresistibly logical it may well prove to be the most practical solution.

Max and Marion are usually the sort of friends who can go for a year without seeing each other and catch up on everything in a second once they do. In these four strange and amusing encounters, however, something new seems to be happening. Max finds himself increasingly flummoxed by his interesting friend, as Marion plays about with various scenarios in which she side-steps work, suspends the kids and liberates her life partner while making a direct and long overdue approach towards more time meditating under the Me Tree.

When internationally renowned and self-confessed soloist Rachael Marlin comes to live with Holly and James in their Salon d'Art, everyone falls madly in love with her. Only Joy, a young doctor, sounds a note of caution when she sees Rachael's effect on her fianc , Matthew, and her potential to turn their little salon d'Artinto a large theatre of the absurd. As Joy anticipates, when Rachael's affections and creative energies turn closer towards her instrument than to her hosts, she reveals herself to be not quite the promised prot g . Spurred on by Holly, all have to work quickly to meet the danger and construct a m nage in which art and, above all, honour can be satisfied.

A hillside with an ocean view seems an ideal spot to spend a lonely Christmas Eve. When Jessica, a journalism major, and Beth, a high-profile politician, discover they both have the same idea, they exchange the sort of explosive little gifts that are usually left wrapped. Although barely acquainted, over the course of the day they discover that through their mutual relationship with Jeff, a Government Minister, their lives are intimately connected. This discovery and the substance of their connection leaves their shared past looking like a nightmare. When the shocks of the afternoon turn to violence in the evening, both Jessica and Beth have to decide how to go on in a world where politics and personalities have never been more intimate.

Ellen hasn't done a show since well before she had kids. Why she allowed herself to be roped-in at the last minute to sing, play the cello as well as the lead in Glenn's one-night stand production of Shakespeare's As You Like It is a mystery. By the end of the first rehearsal she is floundering, by the end of the second, she is in love.

Finally, the new play is up and running but Ellen's problems are just beginning. Imogen, her daughter and primary theatrical asset, is tiring of the spotlight. Glenn, her co-producer with privileges, is demanding something more. Then on opening night, Lana appears. Ten years ago, she walked into Ellen's life, changed it and left. Ever since Ellen has been wondering why. Now she is also wondering what Lana wants with Imogen.

Seven years' worth of long lunches with her single friend Louis and two half days a week at the gallery have left April wondering if there is more to living. When Jeremy comes into her life, and her foster daughter May comes of age, April begins to feel like a hothouse orchid, although she longs to be a wildflower.

This book is the most thorough exploration to date of the many ways in which a wild creature has been absorbed, reimagined and represented across the ages in all of the major art forms. The authors consider not only how the identity of sharks in the natural environment became incorporated into a cultural environment but also how sharks came to be considered the most feared creatures in the open oceans as a consequence of this incorporation. Yet sharks are especially important in helping to maintain a balance that is essential to the health of the oceans. The book begins with a treatment of the three sharks at the top of global shark-attack files from scientific, economic and environmental perspectives. Subsequent chapters engage with cultural representations of sharks in poetry, drama, art, novels, screenplay adaptations and films. Through an exploration of the ways in which sharks have been represented in human culture through the centuries, this book alerts the global community to the importance of sharks as a common cultural heritage. It aims to change perceptions of sharks so that they can become more revered than feared. The authors of this book argue that an increased understanding of sharks should lead to the development of better strategies for shark and human interactions.This book will be of great interest to researchers and students of the Environmental Humanities, Cultural History and the Arts. It is also excellent supplementary reading for courses in Zoology and Marine Science.

This first book-length critical study of Jeremy Irons concentrates on his key performances and acting style. Through the analysis of some of the major screen roles in Irons’s career, such as Brideshead Revisited, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Reversal of Fortune, Swann in Love, Dead Ringers and Lolita, Mark Nicholls identifies a new masculine identity that unites them: an emblematic figure of the 1980s and 1990s presented as an alternative to the action hero or the common man. Using clear explanations of complex theoretical ideas, this book investigates Jeremy Irons’s performances through the lens of sexual inversion and social rebellion, to uncover an entirely original but recognizable screen type.

New biography of one of the key figures in British history focusing on both his writing and legacy. Sir Walter Raleigh is a figure writ large in popular imagination. Yet how can we understand this man who was soldier, voyager, visionary, courtier, politician, poet, historian, patriot and 'traitor'? We know some facts, and much can be learned from Raleigh's prose and poetry about his ideas, personality, feelings and values. Important new texts of his works have recently been published: we now possess reliable versions of his poems, his letters and his travel narratives. No biography of Raleigh, however, can be complete without an assessment of his posthumous reputation. Myths that accumulated around him tell us something about the man himself, but far more about the perceptions of his own and subsequent generations. Raleigh's talents as a writer ensured his positive legacy, but the appropriation of his legend for so many differing political uses has left us with a complex picture. In this original and important new biography Williams and Nicholls set this right.

This volume examines the development of two sovereign nations over seventy-four momentous years.

This volume examines the development of two sovereign nations over seventy-four momentous years.