History's Queen

When Mary says yes, the world changes.

I'm entirely desperate for a physical copy of this book now, so that I can see it in full, with all the beautiful illustrations I can only imagine.
Aquilina presents a history of Christianity, with Mary at the centre. For over two thousand years she has been the focus of fierce theological debate, countless pieces of art, relics and miracles. The sheer breadth of history here is staggering, and although I mourned to see vast swathes of it left untouched, what is here is both comprehensive and oddly moving.
The writing is both accessible and compelling, and Aquilina does his best to separate fact from fiction where possible, while acknowledging that is some cases there simply is no way to know.
My only issue, as mentioned, was simply that I wanted more. It is such an immense topic, and I can't blame Aquilina for cherry picking moments and scenes to save on words and research, but occasionally it's jarring. There's very little on the Catholic/Protestant tensions of the early 1500s - we see Martin Luther and his earliest arguments, but nothing of his later career, nothing on the English Reformation at all, and skip ahead almost directly to Lepanto (1571) and from there to the French Revolution (1789) with nothing of what happened in between. Given the absolute glut of art and mythmaking that was happening in Renaissance Europe, I was surprised to see it brushed off with barely a chapter.
It's a small criticism of what is otherwise a genuinely wonderful, thought-provoking book. Mary is beautifully presented here as the world's mother; full of grace and infinite love.

An excellent book about the Virgin Mary. This is, most importantly, a book of history, looking at not just theology and apparitions. It looks at the role Mary has played in so many things, from literature to battles to archetecture. It's divided nicely into chapters and has lots of resources for discovering more.

Mike Aquilina has masterfully brought his talent for capturing the drama and narrative of history to bear on the subject of the Virgin Mary’s role in world history.

This work shines in its multifaceted treatment of Mary by examining her role in history, theology, architecture, art, literature and mysticism. Of particular note for the Catholic and non-Catholic reader is the Biblical and early Church exploration of Mary’s role in salvation history, which have been lost sight of over the centuries. Many readers will also find the section on Mary’s place in Islam and Iconoclasm to be of interest given modern issues related to Christian-Muslim relations and religious art within modern Catholicism and Christianity generally since the Reformation.

This is a solid introduction to the role of the Virgin Mary not just in Christianity, but in world history. It will open up avenues for the interested reader to pursue more deeply – and it will provide sustenance for the soul seeking greater encounter.

this was a really unique read, I loved that this book was about the Virgin Mary, the writing style was really well done and I enjoyed how much research was done.

What a wonderful gift to the world this book is!

As a convert to the Church, coming from a Baptist background, Marian Doctrine was a big struggle for me. I very much wanted to embrace the teachings on Mary, but was a bit wary. And while now I love Marian Doctrine, books such as History's Queen are a brilliant tool in my Catholic arsenal. Mike Aquilina has such an easy and friendly writing style, while still conveying the depth of the topic. History's Queen begins with the Annunciation and hits key points in our history, all while showing the part that Mary played in each situation. It was enormously fascinating, very eye-opening, and quite comforting as well. The author was also careful to point out (how I love him for it) that Catholics do not worship Mary, but only honor her. I loved this book immensely and would recommend it to anyone, regardless of how much they may or may not know about Mary. It is a joy to read and tremendously helpful.

This book was so good! I really loved it a lot. I have read a lot of Marian books and this one ranks right up there with the best. Mike Aquilina takes the monumental task of going through Christian history with Mary at the center. It was beautifully written.

This book does what Mike Aquilina is great at: taking history and making it interesting by focusing in on specifics. Even if you don’t read a lot of history books, I would recommend reading this one for a great look at the role of Our Lady, the Mother of God, in the whole of history.

I don’t know that I can pick a favorite part of this book but I can say that I especially loved the parts on Lepanto and Fatima. Lepanto was the naval battle against the Moors where Our Lady was called Our Lady of Victory and from where we get the title Our Lady of the Rosary. It is a wonderful story. And I just love hearing the story of Fatima, the apparition of Our Lady to the shepherd children.