Scholarship on emotions, feelings, and sentiments has lately been an important component of early modern studies. Ibbett's book does much more than inscribe itself in this trend; it is probably one of the most impressive pieces of scholarship recently produced on the subject. Indeed, Compassion's Edge is a precious work. The author examines how compassion, an emotional state that is not often studied and analyzed, should be considered an essential component of the culture of the period, and a crucial factor in any study of the period: “I restore the severe face of early modern compassion, and suggest what we lose if we turn away from its historical significance” (1). It is important throughout her analysis, however, to understand that compassion was not, most of the time, a benevolent feeling; she explains in her epilogue that “the language of compassion tends instead to point to our failure to live well together, or to let others live well” (223).

Ibbett's work is an enthralling foray into the many facets of compassion. Her analysis is powerful, intelligent, and deeply erudite. What is striking is the cultural importance of her project. From Foucault to Butler to the Frankfurt School, her use of theory profoundly anchors her analysis in contemporary theoretical questions. The scope of her research—the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries—gives the reader a better understanding of the historical origins of the idea of compassion (from the ashes and the trauma of the French wars of religion). Ibbet thus creates a narrative of its inclusion in the sociocultural climate of the period. Her methodology combines literary, historical, cultural, and societal perspectives. Genre, periodization, and gender are a few of the topics that she addresses in her introduction, which launches the reader into the core of her book.

Ibbett's chapters address both canonical texts and lesser-known ones; her six chapters are extremely complementary and shape the evolution of her narrative. Chapter 1, “Pitiful Sights: Reading the Wars of Religion,” examines readings and retellings of the pity of the Wars of Religion, notably through an analysis of Ronsard and Agrippa d'Aubigné. Chapter 2, “The Compassion Machine: Theories of Fellow-Feeling, 1570–1692,” examines how pity was theorized in the early modern period, and how it was set into words for all to understand. In chapter 3, “Caritas, Compassion, and Religious Difference,” Ibbett tackles the importance of religious difference in conceptions of compassion—mainly of caritas—with particularly impressive readings of Moïse Amyraut and Pierre Jurieu. Chapter 4, “Pitiful States: Marital Miscompassion and the Historical Novel,” focuses on La Princesse de Montpensier, La Comtesse de Tende, and La Princesse de Clèves. Ibbett studies the misplaced compassion displayed in these works and its implication in the national representation of a post–Edict of Nantes France. Chapter 5, “Affective Absolutism and the Problem of Religious Difference,” continues the reflection that she started in chapter 3; she focuses in this chapter on compassion concerning the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and analyzes how Protestants reacted to this momentous event. Chapter 6, entitled “Compassionate Labor in Seventeenth-Century Montreal,” is the most intriguing and exciting chapter in this fantastic book. Here, Ibbett examines texts written to and by women of the Hôtel Dieu hospital in seventeenth-century Montreal. She notably focuses on how the idea of compassion was understood and disseminated by the nuns who took care of these women. Marie Morin's Histoire simple et véritable, one of the pieces she analyzes in this chapter, is a fantastic testimony, which she masterfully dissects.

Katherine Ibbett's book is bound to become one of the most critical sources of scholarship on compassion. It will become a classic, and anyone working on the subject will have to read it in order to be considered a specialist. Compassion's Edge will grow in the years to come as a great classic of cultural studies.