'This is an extremely important work, a new departure in the study of the history of the Spanish Inquisition. Haliczer challenges the traditional view of the Inquisition as a monolithic and all-powerful institution, and shows how by the latter half of the sixteenth century, after decades of practically unchallenged authority, the Inquisition was forced on the defensive as regional institutions reasserted themselves and a royal support for it waned. Especially valuable is Haliczer's analysis of the Inquisition's adaptation to the changed circumstances and its accommodation with Valencian society through a specific pattern of recruitment of its own officials and familiares from the local populace.'--Mark D. Meyerson, University of Notre Dame.