The devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, based on the story of apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Juan Diego, an Indian neophyte, at the hill of Tepeyac in December 1531, is one of the most important formative religious and national forces in the history of Mexico. It has variously been interpreted as the source of Mexican national identity, a means of continuity between the Indian past and Spanish domination, a symbol of national liberation, and a way of evangelizing and pacifying the Indians.

The aphorism "Mexico was born at Tepeyac" aptly summarizes its importance. In this, the first work ever to examine in depth every historical source of the Guadalupe apparitions, Stafford Poole traces the origins and history of the account, and in the process challenges many commonly accepted assumptions and interpretations. This is revisionist history at its best and will undoubtedly provoke widespread scholarly debate.