Mr Graham has been known up to now as a novelist rather than an historian. But his gift for narrative and firm knowledge of his subject combine to make [The Spanish Armadas] an excellent piece of popular historiography. The catchpenny title is misleading, since the real subject of the book is the Elizabethan war with Spain. The war is never described as a whole and the operations in the Caribbean are omitted, together with their vital economic consequences; nor are European operations confined to armadas, since (inevitably) Grenville's fight with a flota is included, as are the Lisbon and Cadiz raids.

Five true armadas are distinguished, the Enterprise of England taking up half of the book. In his account of the events of 1588 Mr Graham makes an illuminating comparison between the evolution of the race-built galleon and that of the twentieth-century Spitfire. He makes good use of Evelyn...