Donald Clarke – författare

3i (Investors in Industry, and formerly the Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation, etc.) is Britain's leading venture capital company. Founded in 1945 as a result of a combination of pressures and counter-pressures from political parties, Whitehall, the Bank of England, and the clearing banks, the organization has played a significant role in post-war investment banking and industrial development.The first part of the book traces its history from the early years of post-war reconstruction and the role played by Piercy and Kinross, through the years of consolidation, to the higher-profile years of the change of name and style and the 1994 flotation. The second part offers an inside view of the workings of this unique institution - the controllers, 3i's role in developing MBOs, methods of assessing risk and return, its relationship with capital markets, etc.During its first 50 years 3i has invested in numerous well known and successful companies - many of these are detailed in the text (British Caledonian, Oxford Instruments, Laura Ashley, etc.). The book is also elegantly and innovatively designed, making good use of the well known 3i cartoons.

Certainly no singer has been more mythologized and more misunderstood than Billie Holiday, who helped to create much of the mystique herself with her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues . "Now, finally, we have a definitive biography," said Booklist of Donald Clarke's Billie Holiday , "by a deeply compassionate, respectful, and open-minded biographer [whose] portrait embraces every facet of Holiday's paradoxical nature, from her fierceness to her vulnerability, her childlikeness to her innate elegance and amazing strength." Clarke was given unrivaled access to a treasure trove of interviews from the 1970s,interviews with those who knew Lady Day from her childhood in the streets and good-time houses of Baltimore through the early days of success in New York and into the years of fame, right up to her tragic decline and death at the age of forty-four. Clarke uses these interviews to separate fact from fiction and, in the words of the Seattle Times , "finally sets us straight. . .evoking her world in all its anguish, triumph, force and irony." Newsday called this "a thoroughly riveting account of Holiday and her milieu." The New York Times raved that it "may be the most thoroughly valuable of the many books on Holiday," and Helen Oakley Dance in JazzTimes said, "We should probably have to wait a long time for another life of Billie Holiday to supersede Donald Clarke's achievement."

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world’s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas.This Advanced Introduction provides an essential overview of the Chinese legal system, situating its institutions within the wider political framework. By examining the motivations and roles of key actors such as the police, prosecutors and judges, Donald Clarke presents crucial insights into current events.Key Features:Highlights the influence of rank within the Chinese legal and political systemDetails various sources of law and their differing degrees of binding authorityExplores foundational fields including administrative, criminal, tort and land lawIllustrates how political and stability concerns can take precedence over law in Chinese court rulingsEvaluates the distinct internal logic of Chinese law and its social and political functionThe Advanced Introduction to Chinese Law is highly beneficial for legal scholars and students interested in Chinese law and authoritarian legality. It is also relevant to those in numerous fields of modern China studies - including economics, political science and sociology - looking to deepen their understanding of the Chinese legal system.