In 1949 Thomas Costain temporarily turned aside from a successful series of historical novels to commence a long history of England in which it was his intention to apply his persuasive imagination to the sober realm of fact. It began well, and the first two volumes have won justified applause. "The Conquerors," starting in 1066, and "The Magnificent Century," which told the tale of Magna Charta John's artistic but unstable son, Henry III, are indeed the sort of books that convert chronicles of the dead past into summer reading. And they do this with at least reasonable respect for what really occurred.

Yet good as they are they are not Thomas Costain at his best, and I am sure this reviewer is not the only one who, reading them with pleasure, still though nostalgically of "The Black Rose" and "The Moneyman." For Mr. Costain is, after all, not a historian...