Highly recommended book on the rosary, Catholic spirituality, and spiritual warfare. I was surprised that the first third of the book is actually an overview of salvation history, but this leads perfectly into presenting the importance of devotion to Mary and of the rosary in the spiritual life.

The writing clearly and simply presents deep concepts of the Catholic faith. It is both informative and inspirational. Several chapters briefly introduce readers to dozens of saints who had great devotions to Mary, the rosary, or are exemplary models for modern living.

There are several chapters with meditations for each mystery, the basics of praying the rosary, and tips for combating distraction. Each chapter ends with a story or reflection on the rosary by a guest author, so in addition to Benkovic and Sullivan the reader also hears from many other modern Catholics.

This is a good book for anyone, whether they've prayed the rosary all their lives or they have only just heard the word "rosary." It is also a good introduction for lapsed and non-Catholics curious about the rosary and Catholicism.

I am of two minds about this book. That's largely because one of the co-authors is the founder of the Warrior Rosary movement and this book is, in part, designed to be a manual for that movement and to encourage joining it.

Thus the half of the book dedicated to meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary and how to pray it well are based on this. That makes them less useful if this is not a part of your spiritual life.

Related to this, but more interesting, are the three chapters highlighting spiritual warriors, i.e. saints. While I was delighted by learning about new saints, in almost all cases, their relation to the Rosary or even a special dedication to Mary was not obvious. Sometimes it wasn't even really clear why they were warriors in contrast to other saints. So I'm not sure they were the best choices for a book anout the Rosary.

The two strongest parts of the book were the chapters dealing with the creation, fall, and salvation and the personal Rosary stories that ended each chapter. The chapters on the creation and fall had far more theological meat on them than most books for popular devotion. The personal tales were wonderful.

A worthwhile book with limitations.

The rosary is very powerful....w/ its simplicity. thank you for sharing this book w/ me.

As a non Roman Catholic Christian, the Rosary has still always held some mystery for me. Having spent a few years in a Catholic School I exposed enough to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, to only having the basic understanding that she was held in a higher holy regard by that denomination, and not mine.

"The Rosary: Your Weapon for Spiritual Warfare" is perfectly titled. Though it is written more for those familiar with the Rosary, and the prayers one says over the various days (I have prayed the Rosary during Lent many years, so I understood what was referred to by the author), there is still enough in here to delight the reader, like me, who likes to see and be reminded of the work and witness of those who have experienced the Spiritual realm.

Thus, the book is filled with grand stories surrounding those who regularly prayed the Rosary. Whether it be ships full of faithful in a major sea battle or Benedictines who lived near where the atomic bombs were dropped, this book will show how these faithful were spared the worst of fates through their prayerful acts.

Each chapter is topped off with a more personal experience about praying the Rosary from various individuals. If you regularly pray this and want to remember why, this is a good book for you. If you are new to the Rosary you might want to read up on the basics first before taking this on, though it will still delight you as long as you are willing to not understand the talk around the daily practices.

As an Irish Catholic I obviously am very familiar with the rosary and prayed it more times than I can count in my life. As a kid I remember dreading when the time would come for us to pray because it seemed to take forever, it was boring and seemingly pointless - just a horrible act my parents used to punish us or keep us from watching prime time television. As a teenager the boredom continued along with the frustration and resentment. I eventually taught myself to pray the rosary in English, Latin, Spanish, Italian and French so I could pray each decade in a different language in order to not get bored. That worked for a while but eventually when I got old enough to leave my parents house the praying stopped.

The problem was I had no real concept or understanding of what the rosary is or why we were praying it other than my parents telling us we had to because we were catholic. Reading this book has been an eye opening experience because the history behind the rosary is astounding. If I had been taught what is in this book when I was a kid I would've had a greater appreciation and respect for what we were doing but unfortunately my parents were not alone in the fact that at some point the knowledge and history of our faith had become secondary to just going through the motions.

This book is not just educational but it was actually written in a way that it made learning about the rosary interesting and had me flipping back and forth between pages to make sure I was soaking up everything the authors were trying to impart. The personal stories that were included from people to explain what the rosary meant to them and the impact it had on their lives made it seem so much more powerful and relative to everyday life. I also enjoyed the fact they didn't just focus on the prayers but the people behind them. Learning more about Joseph, the husband of Mary, St. Michael and others not only adds a greater depth to understanding why we say these particular prayers but also makes me glad to be doing something that in a way honors what they have provided to the faith. As a woman I was especially glad to see a focus on the females who have left their own impact on an otherwise male dominated belief system. Our Lady of Guadalupe, the saints and others have all left indelible and lasting impressions on what we do, what believe and created role models for us to look upon. Also including people from more recent times such as Maximilian Kobe show that the importance of the rosary was not left in the dust of history but is very alive and continues to play a much needed role in our lives.

Despite maintaining a cultural attachment to my faith I am in practice a lapsed Catholic. I appreciated the prayers and meditations that were included because I haven't prayed in such a long time I don't remember more than the basics.

I chose to read this book because I often like to read books that aren't necessarily my first picks to curl up with to see if I can find something worthwhile. I believe the mark of a good author is one who can reel you in when you sat down feeling apathetic about the material only to end up feeling invested. They did a wonderful job making this interesting and made me want to dust off my rosary now that I understand its importance.