To Mr. Costain's vigorous narrative can legitimately be applied the overworked metaphor kaleidoscopic, for, like the images in that ancient toy, it abounds in simple bright colors, ever shifting their pattern. In this new volume of The Pageant of England [The Magnificent Century] he covers the reign of the regrettable John's son, Henry III, who ruled England for over fifty years, marked by incompetence, extravagance, petulance, broken promises, civil war, violence and magnificent buildings. The story, as befits a pageant, is reduced to simple terms and certain figures and events stand out clearly—William the Marshal, Hubert de Burgh, Simon de Montfort, the shifty king, and young Edward who becomes king…. (p. 204)

The Magnificent Century is a good specimen of popular historiography, but it illustrates the difficulty of writing colorfully about a period inadequately documented and poorly illustrated by its contemporaries. Mr. Costain has done his best, but...