The classic saga of King Arthur and those around him in the Court-- the knights, his Queen, and the wizard Merlin. Focuses on the rise of Christian civilization out of the Dark Ages.

A retelling of the story of the boy fated to be the "Once and Future King, " covering his glorious reign and his tragic, yet triumphant, passing. Illustrated notes throughout the text explain the historical background of the story.

The first book John Steinbeck read as a child was the Caxton Morte d'Arthur, and he considered it one of the most challenging tasks of his career to modernize the stories of King Arthur. "These stories are alive even in those of us who have not read them, " he says. "And, in our day, we are perhaps impatient with the words and the stately rhythms of [Thomas] Malory. I wanted to set the stories down in meaning as they were written, leaving out nothing...

Relates the chivalrous and romantic deeds of King Arthur, Launcelot, Gareth, Tristram, Galahad, and other knights of the Round Table.