Few scholars in the United States currently study intendants. Marie-Pierre Lacoste's analysis of the intendants is therefore timely. Her contribution is part of a renaissance of studies on the mid- and upper-level ministers, even in English-speaking historiography. For example, María Bárbara Zepeda Cortés is reinterpreting José de Gálvez, Francisco Eissa-Barroso shows the early militarization of important coastal governments, and for Miguel Costa the nonaristocratic Count of Villar governed sixteenth-century Peru effectively as viceroy. In France, the prosopography of imperial actors embedded in their social networks—including peninsular intendants, financial officials, and plantation elites—is an important scholarly trend. As part of this trend, Lacoste presents sophisticated serial biographies of 236 intendants of larger New Spain, which she defines as the viceroyalty including New Galicia as well as Guatemala, Louisiana, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. Lacoste discusses each intendant and succinctly interprets patterns. Her work combines classical genealogy of individuals and their families with detailed analysis of careers before, during, and after the intendancy and, in some cases, even after independence. Lacoste also illuminates the “environnement relationnel”—that is, the social ties to patrons and others (p. 48). Lacoste draws on a wide array of appointment titles and relaciones de mérito (résumés) that she culled from the Archivo General de Indias and other Spanish repositories, including the Archivo General Militar de Segovia. Research into American archival materials, such as the reales cédulas in Mexico City, would have complemented the work, though it would have been challenging to travel to all archives for a balanced view.Lacoste maintains that there was not a single pathway to attaining an intendancy. Eighty-two of the 205 intendants whose backgrounds she uncovered served in the military, mostly in the infantry. Forty-seven were financial officials, 42 were legal advisers to intendants, and the remainder served as secretaries, judges, or municipal councillors. They became intendants with “solid professional experience” to draw on, as their median age at taking office was 54 (p. 35). In turn, their fathers also had careers in the military and the municipal and royal administration. Most intendants did not spawn dynasties working in the same profession, unlike many audiencia judges. Intendants were mostly nobles, though only a few belonged to military orders and only seven claimed titles of nobility by the time of their appointments. Notable exceptions existed, though. The Baron of Carondelet served Spain in San Salvador and Louisiana, for example, although he descended from the aristocracy of the Franche-Comté (in eastern France). Some intendants' families also boasted numerous hábitos.Lacoste argues that 82.2 percent of all intendants in New Spain originated in Spain (p. 22). This number breaks down to 70 percent of intendants in the viceroyalty and just under 60 percent in Guatemala, while 18 of 21 intendants in Cuba came from the peninsula. Lacoste's finding supports the argument of the acrimonious creole/peninsular dualism, as José de Gálvez pursued a policy of “remétropolisation” of the colonial administration (p. 29). However, Lacoste also emphasizes that the minister of the Indies and his allies recruited among their clients. Gálvez hailed from Málaga, and many intendants were Andalusian too. Their family ties and social environ were key to promotions. Lucas de Gálvez, for example, was a cousin of the minister. Others married into the Gálvez clan and perpetuated its influence. At the same time, several ministers belonged to American families of great influence, such as the Bolio family in Yucatán; one of its scions rose to the intendancy of Mérida in 1820. Another example is José María Lasso Nacarino, who was born to a merchant family in Veracruz in 1744. He joined the army as a cadet and endeared himself to Gálvez by expelling the Jesuits from California in 1767. After further campaigns and bureaucratic experience, he attained the intendancy of Oaxaca in 1809. The insurgents chased him out in 1812, but Lasso Nacarino kept the position officially until 1817. In that year, the king denied his requests for retirement at the age of 72 and appointed him as customs director. This trajectory differed from those of most other intendants, whose careers were crowned by their one term as intendant. Only two intendants stayed for more than 20 years in the same post, while most remained in office for between less than one and five years. Only 15 percent of the intendants obtained a second or third appointment, although several did go on to other important positions, including in Europe. Three rose to become viceroys. Some fell fighting, such as José Alonso de Terán, whom insurgents executed in 1810. In addition, the crown executed Manuel Garcés, interim intendant of Zacatecas, in 1811 for aiding the rebellion. Others returned to Spain after independence, while 9 of 16 sitting intendants in New Spain and Guatemala recognized independence and went on to become judges, governors, or division generals.This fine text illuminating the social origins and networks of intendants will most likely not be assigned in US courses. Nonetheless, students of the period will find the quick reference very useful (and will be able to translate online when necessary). Those particularly interested will want to follow up and read Lacoste's dissertation, which will hopefully be published soon.