text: This is one of the finest popular histories I have ever read.  Whether it is a book about 5th and 6th century British history using Arthur as a organizing principle, or a book about the "real" Arthur using 5th and 6th century history as a backdrop, this book is wholly convincing concerning the reality of Arthur and the historical context in which he lived.  The book may actually be too good.  The most convincing evidence it cites -- the so-called British Easter Annals -- appear  to have been called into question by subsequent scholarship; and the link between Arthur and Mount Badon is not quite as convicing as it seeme to be when Alcock wrote the book.  In short, this masterpiece needs updating.  But a masterpiece it is.  No one who reads this book with any care can fail to come away from it without a vastly improved understanding not only of the British dark ages, but of the nature of historical evidence, scholarship, and truth.  This is a great book
  