Holy Places

'One simply cannot do justice to Kathryn Hurlock's vivid and remarkably wide-ranging page-turner' Country LifeThis year, as they have for millennia, many people around the world will set out on pilgrimages. But these are not only journeys of personal and spiritual devotion - they are also political acts, affirmations of identity and engagements with deep-rooted historical narratives. Kathryn Hurlock follows the trail of pilgrimage through nineteen sacred sites - from the temples of Jerusalem to the banks of the Ganges, by way of Iona, Lourdes, Amritsar and Buenos Aires - revealing the many ways in which this ancient practice has shaped our religions and our world. Pilgrimages have transformed the fates of cities, anointed dynasties, provided guidance in hard times and driven progress in good. Filled with fascinating insights, Holy Places unveils the complex histories and contemporary endurance of one of our most fundamental human urges.

Kathryn Hurlock is Head of the History Research Centre and Reader in Medieval History at Manchester Metropolitan University. She is a religious historian, whose work focuses on how people have engaged in major religious activities from the middle ages to the present day. She is the author of Wales and the Crusades, (2011) Britain, Ireland and the Crusades, (2013) and Medieval Welsh Pilgrimage (2018), among others. She has featured on BBC Breakfast and You're Dead To Me and has written for the Independent and the New European.