Early Modern Diplomacy, Theatre and Soft Power: The Making of Peace. Nathalie Rivère de Carles. ed. Early Modern Literature in History. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. xvi + 240 pp. $99.99.
sive, one wonders what the inclusion of and focus on additional texts written by women, or attention to texts by authors of color (especially in modern literature), might have revealed about the patterns and meanings she uncovers. That said, Rose makes a persuasive case for the plotting of maternal authority as an important structural and narrative device and, as a result, makes an important contribution to the understanding of maternity and gender as represented in Western literature across the centuries.