In My End Is My Beginning

by James A. MacKay

Mary Queen of Scots ascended to her country's throne one week after her birth, in 1542. Until she reached adulthood, Mary played pawn in the deadly power struggles dividing Scotland's nobility, and its Catholics and Protestants. When she came of age, Mary found herself ill-equipped to prevail over the destructive conflicts gripping her dominion or to ward off the encroachments of her calculating cousin, Queen Elizabeth of England.In 1568, her marriage and her life in tatters, Mary became Elizabeth's prisoner; she would spend the last 20 years of her life in captivity. Conspiracies and counterconspiracies, real and imagined, hovered about the imprisoned monarch: a hostage to fortune, she represented a rallying point for English Catholics. Elizabeth's executioners ended the queen's tragic life in 1587, but her son, as James I, would grow up to unite the two kingdoms that -- each in its own way -- destroyed his mother.

James MacKay, one of the only Scottish historians to have tackled this legendary queen's biography, brings refresing perspective to a centuries-old debate.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, History

320 pages, Hardcover

First published March 18, 1999

About the author

Also credited as "James MacKay" or "James Alexander MacKay".

Dr. James Alexander MacKay was a prolific Scottish writer and philatelist whose reputation was damaged by a criminal conviction for theft and repeated accusations of plagiarism. In an obituary by John Holman, Editor of the British Philatelic Bulletin, Mackay was described as a "philatelic writer without equal". Mackay's output was broad.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don;t remember why I didn't like this - possibly after reading Jane Dunn's book I realised he could have done a much better job!