God in la Mancha

Winner, Roland H. Bainton Prize, Sixteenth Century Society and Conference Even as the Protestant Reformation became a permanent feature of European culture, a Catholic reformation was under way in Spain. In this acclaimed social history of the Spanish Counter-Reformation, Sara Nalle uses the records of local religious courts, parishes, and notarial archives to explore in striking detail how the people and clergy of Cuenca learned to conform to the new standards of modern Catholicism. "A persuasive and nuanced account... There is little doubt that this carefully researched work will become one of the standards in the religious history of Spain." -- American Historical Review "Until the middle of the seventeenth century, when complacency got the better of the good intentions of the 1560s, the Counter-Reformation triumphed in Spain. In this process, Nalle shows in her thorough study, persuasion was more effective than coercion. The Inquisition served as a means of spreading the Tridentine doctrine, and of registering the good results, rather than as an instrument of terror." -- Times Literary Supplement "Nalle succeeds in truly writing a solid cultural history. She is devoted to an understanding of the material base without being a reductionist, and is able to explore ideas without losing sight of commonalities and realities. Her book blends the best of microhistory with a certain Rankean meticulousness." -- Sixteenth Century Journal Sara T. Nalle is a professor of history at William Paterson College and the author of Mad for God: Bartolomé Sánchez, the Secret Messiah of Cardenete.Nalle, Sara T. is the author of 'God in la Mancha', published 2008 under ISBN 9780801888540 and ISBN 0801888549.