RMC Publishing / 9789657240007 / hardback / 256pp / £35.99

4 stars

This is a book chock full of pictures and illustrations, a heavyweight hardback which is presumably meant as a coffee table book but which gives some interesting insights into the history of the Holy Land. Written in a newspaper-like format, with short articles about particular themes of the history of pilgrimage, it's very easy to dip into this book as it works its way from the time of Christ to the Pope's visit to Israel in 2000. This is in no way a scholarly book; instead it's more like a popular guidebook to sites and historical legends, which seems to assume the historicity of all events it discusses. It's written from a catholic perspective incorporating information on saints and popes and monasteries, much of which was very interesting. Although I found the American spelling and sentence formulation irritating, overall the book was an interesting read and the images that surround the text were good.