How I wish I could write a positive review of this book. Unfortuately, I cannot. This book starts out great and then becomes so bogged down with names, battles, and other details that it loses sight of its topic--the Papal Swiss Guard. There are no pictures, maps, timelines or other visual aids that would help the struggling reader, other than a small color spread of photos in the center of the book. I enjoy reading non-fiction books and I love studying the history of the Catholic Church, but this is the kind of book that causes people to hate reading history. Dry, boring with no sense of narrative. It was a struggle to get through it and I only did because I am very interested in the subject. The only section worth reading was the period about the Vatican during World War II. Maybe one of these days a writer will write a book about the Swiss Guard that is enjoyable as well as informative. This one "ain't it."