How did maps of the distant reaches of the world communicate to the public in an era when exploration of those territories was still ongoing and knowledge about them remained incomplete? And why did Renaissance rulers frequently commission large-scale painted maps of those territories when they knew that they would soon be proven obsolete by newer, more accurate information? The Mapping of Power in Renaissance Italy addresses these questions by bridging the disciplines of art history and the histories of science, cartography, and geography to closely examine surviving Italian painted maps that were commissioned during a period better known for its printed maps and atlases. Challenging the belief that maps are strictly neutral or technical markers of geographic progress, this well-illustrated study investigates the symbolic and propagandistic dimensions of these painted maps as products of the competitive and ambitious European court culture that produced them.

Over the past twenty-five years, a series of actions, omissions, and failures by Canada's lawmakers and the purported gatekeepers of investors' rights have left Canadians' investments, pensions, and retirement savings at greater risk. Bodies such as provincial securities commissions have abandoned their obligations to safeguard investors and allowed published and audited financial statements in Canada to become unreliable. Yet these distorted financial statements are often used by financial analysts who present them as accurate, leaving investors in the dark about serious risks and negative impacts on their savings. In Easy Prey Investors, investigative forensic accountants Al and Mark Rosen examine the circumstances - beginning with a 1997 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that largely granted external auditors immunity against shareholder lawsuits - that have led to a proliferation of corporate scandals and other financial manipulations, and a corresponding lack of accountability among auditors. Based on their many years of experience in major Canadian court cases involving collapsed companies, the authors reveal the full stories behind the financial deceptions, and describe the disturbing consequences for investors. They show how a combination of inaction by lawmakers and illogical delegation of regulatory power to conflicted financial statement auditors has seriously harmed investors, as well as how most conventional protections have been stripped away from stakeholders. Why invest in Canada when your money can so easily be lost? Prying open doors too often sealed shut, Easy Prey Investors illuminates the unpleasant details of financial manipulation and suggests new ways to guide and protect investors and their families.