Frances Levine's investigation into the affairs of the Mexican Inquisition in early colonial New Mexico, Doña Teresa Confronts the Spanish Inquisition: A Seventeenth-Century New Mexican Drama, focuses on the case of Teresa Aguilera y Roche, the Italian-born wife of Bernardo López de Mendizábal, New Mexico's governor from 1659 to 1660. The couple's forced removal from the governor's seat on the basis of accusations that they practiced Judaism and the subsequent extended detainment and trial by Inquisition officials in Mexico City opens a window into colonial-era perceptions of Jewish or crypto-Jewish praxis, and how such perceptions were used to political ends. The result is an intimate view into Doña Teresa's trial and her self-written defense, of which Levine insightfully observes, “the corrections she penned and the crossed-out words she marked show how seriously she chose her form of expression and how committed she was to the task of her defense” (183).

Levine explores a fundamental tension in the case of Governor Mendizábal and his wife: given the research spearheaded by former New Mexico state historian Stanley Hordes detailing hidden Jewish practices in New Mexico during the colonial period and later, were the charges of Jewish practice (judaizante) levied against the couple valid? Or were they, as Levine postulates, “simply part of a larger practice by factions in the church or political spheres that used the Inquisition to silence opposition?” (6). Levine supports the later hypothesis. While noting the governor's converso lineage, Levine signals points of conflict between Mendizábal and ecclesial officials in New Mexico, including increasing salaries paid to indigenous laborers, reassigning encomiendas among the colonists, and curtailing Franciscan influence (52–55). Levine's thorough examination of the allegations of Jewish practice attested to by members of the governor's household and community implicitly teaches readers which behaviors could credibly be attributed to Jewish practice: grooming on Fridays, exchanging head-caps during the Good Friday procession, drinking chocolate during Lent, and laughing aloud while reading a book in a foreign language (to name a few). Levine's rigorous attention to Inquisition witness testimony vividly illustrates how such accusatory narratives quickly and perniciously spread—to use an anachronism, they went “viral”—in Santa Fe, leading to the removal of the governor and his wife.

Levine, the former director of the New Mexico History Museum, brings her familiarity with New Mexico's colonial landscape and its modern critical interpretations to bear on her reading of Doña Teresa's Inquisitorial experience. The book's accessible structure emphasizes the primacy of archival materials to the project: its three appendices transcribe two inventories of Doña Teresa's possessions, and her full January 1664 response to the Inquisition tribunal. In the first chapter, Levine recounts New Mexico's early exploration and settlement history, including recent insights into Jewish heritage and practice in New Mexico, briefly discussing the ongoing conversation regarding crypto-Jewish identity among present-day nuevomexicanos. In chapter 2, “Intrigue in the Royal Palace,” Levine interprets historical documents to help readers get to know Doña Teresa, for “from the excellent documentation in the Inquisition trial record we know more about her than perhaps any other New Mexico governor's wife at any time in history” (27). Levine provides Doña Teresa's personal history (her childhood in Spain and youth in Colombia) and animates the contents of Doña Teresa's home by imbuing them with her persona. In “A Gathering Storm,” chapter 3, Levine relates the denunciations made against Doña Teresa, accuser by accuser, connecting individuals to allegations; Levine's technique cleverly draws attention to the echo-chamber nature of the charges made against Doña Teresa, a circumstance which Doña Teresa would later enlist in her defense. Levine enunciates the charges presented against Doña Teresa to the Inquisition and brings to life Doña Teresa's fierce self-defense in chapter 4, detailing how Doña Teresa demanded audiences with officials in Mexico City to understand and contest testimony against her. In chapter 5, Levine skillfully guides readers through Doña Teresa's written defense, in which she upheld her Catholic faith and explained how accusations were misperceived, misinformed, ill-motivated, and false. Levine here also crafts a fascinating read on the culture of chocolate consumption, in which Doña Teresa was an avid participant. The book's final chapter shows how Doña Teresa invoked all remaining arguments to her aid, including describing the humiliations to which her husband's sexual proclivities subjected her. In the end, Doña Teresa's case was suspended and she was released, though she endeavored the rest of her life to clear her family name and to recuperate her possessions.

Complementing Levine's text are images of primary materials (held at the Archivo General de la Nación in Mexico City), as well as regional maps, the floor plan of the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, and seventeenth-century objects and artwork. These provide the reader with immediate context for the events examined in the book, an experience akin to walking into a museum of the period. Given Doña Teresa and Governor López de Mendizábal's interest in the sale and consumption of chocolate, the pictures of accessories for its preparation and consumption render the practice visible and make the historical experience that much more understandable and real.

In considering Levine's argument that accusations against the couple arose from political conflicts between Church and civil officials, further explanation of events preceding their arrest would provide instructive background information and strengthen Levine's hypothesis. Aside from this minor quibble, in Doña Teresa Confronts the Spanish Inquisition Frances Levine creates a memorable historical protagonist whose own efforts to free herself from an unjust Inquisitorial gaze stand out for their vehemence, constancy and ingenuity.

Levine's clear prose and archival orientation will appeal to students of colonial Mexico, women's studies, and Jewish studies, as well as to researchers in these areas.