Table of Contents Introduction Valerie Estelle Frankel Section I: Identity and Intersectionality Beyond the Pale: Genre, Race, and Intersectional Feminist Tensions in Bridgerton Tracy H.Z. Reese Casting the Future in Bridgerton's Past Amy Cook and Jessica Hautsch Is "the price we pay . worth the fight?" Undermining the Marriage Plot April Toadvine Hornier Than Thou: Revisioning Female Empowerment Maria Juko "You can choose to love me as much as I love you": Identity, Intentionality, and Agency José I. Rodríguez Whiteness Is the New Black: Alt-London and the EDI Industrial Complex Tré Ventour-Griffiths Section II: Period Arts, Society, and Culture A More Colorful History Built on Thin Ice: How Modernizing History Creates Moral Issues Marie Michlová (Un)Romancing the Ton: Respectability, Leisure, and the Pursuit of Pleasure Viviana Castellano Benedict's Gaze Sarah Stegall Off to the Modiste: A Costume Analysis of Season Valerie Estelle Frankel and Madeleine Loewen Section III: Comparability with Popular Works Spice Sells: Bridgerton, Sex, and the Jane Austen Brand Kaitlyn Reid A Regency Lady and an Edwardian Woman: Tensions Between Social Performances of Femininity and Female Empowerment in Period Pieces Joy E. Morrow Bridging the Gap Between Modern Life and the Period Piece: A Directorial Comparison of Bridgerton and Downton Abbey Schuyler Becker Natasha Rostova, Mr. Malcolm, and the Duke of Hastings: Comparing Introductions to Racially Inclusive Regency Fantasy ­Amanda-Rae Prescott Conclusion Valerie Estelle Frankel About the Contributors Index.