EARLY MODERN EUROPEAN Ignacio de Loyola. By Enrique Garcia Hernan. [Espanoles eminentes.] (Madrid: Taurus. 2013. Pp. 568. euro20,00 paperback. ISBN 978-84-306-0211-7.)Writing a new biography of St. Ignatius Loyola requires great courage and scholarly fortitude, as well as gumption, for there are more than thirty major biographies and thousands of original documents to wade through, including more than 7000 letters written by Ignatius himself. Moreover, there is an additional daunting challenge to take into account: the fact that in these first few years of the twentyfirst century, seven new biographies of Ignatius have already appeared.Given this situation, ever}' reader and reviewer is forced to question the need for yet another biography. What is truly new here? What does this biography have to offer that others have not? How does it interpret Ignatius for our age?This biography by prolific author Enrique Garcia Hernan is part of the Eminent Spaniards series (Espanoles Eminentes). As such, its approach to Ignatius is historical rather than hagiographical, and its main focus is the Spanish context of the saint's life and work rather than the inner workings of the early Jesuit order.Not surprisingly, Garcia Hernan pays a great deal of attention to those years when Ignatius lived in Spain, and one of the distinguishing features of his narrative is the way in which he traces the evolution of a brawling, womanizing Basque courtier and soldier named Inigo-who seemed destined for relative obscurity- into the towering figure now known as St. Ignatius, one of the most important leaders of the Catholic Reformation.Another distinguishing characteristic of Garcia Hernan's approach is his consistent focus on the people who helped shape Ignatius's character and made his accomplishments possible. This Ignatius is a master at networking, and this is a biography full of mini-biographies. In other words, the life of the central figure is never viewed in isolation: Inigo evolves into St. Ignatius in response to a very specific environment, in symbiosis with the lives of those around him.This is not to say that the biography lacks balance, but rather to call attention to its unique emphasis. The amount of detail provided here is considerable, sometimes even overwhelming. This is a book written with experts in mind, not neofamiliar, phytes or a wide reading public, not even in Spain or the Spanish-speaking world. The research is as impressive as it is exemplary, and the narrative is beautifully crafted, even though the attention paid to figures other than Ignatius can sometimes seem more distracting than illuminating. …