Paul C. Allen, Philip III and the Pax Hispanica, 1598-1621: The Failure of Grand Strategy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. xvi + 244 pp. $35. ISBN: 0-300-07682-7.
Many choice historical observations arise from Truman's careful textual research, especially concerning the Inquisition. For instance, Joan Costa, writing in the 1580s while Professor of Rhetoric in Salamanca, suggests that there was no regular Inquisitorial inspection of bookshops, despite stringent legal mandates (148). And Truman's close attention to Inquisitorial censorship yields a fascinating description of how censors could dutifully delete the name of a proscribed author from a text while leaving untouched the expression of that same author's ideas (181-82). More details like these, and Truman's abundant citations, will be of great interest to scholars od early modern Spain. KATHERINE VAN LIERE Calvin College