Background
Thomas Bertram Costain was born on May 8, 1885 in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. He was the son of John Herbert Costain, a carpenter and building contractor, and of Mary Schultz.
(A good, fictionalized biography about the Alexander Graha...)
A good, fictionalized biography about the Alexander Graham Bell, his family life, and what led him to the invention of the telephone. It's clear, concise, and interesting.
https://www.amazon.com/Chord-Steel-Thomas-Bertram-Costain/dp/B0007EJ7C6?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B0007EJ7C6
(The Magnificent Century a History of the Plantagenets)
The Magnificent Century a History of the Plantagenets
https://www.amazon.com/History-Plantagenets-Thomas-Bertram-Costain/dp/B0007FA8F0?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B0007FA8F0
(Hardcover: 472 pages Publisher: Doubleday; Book Club (BC...)
Hardcover: 472 pages Publisher: Doubleday; Book Club (BCE/BOMC) edition (January 1, 1944) Language: English ASIN: B0006DB3SE Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
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(Novel of warm, appealing story of a young boy and a Canad...)
Novel of warm, appealing story of a young boy and a Canadian town during those colorful days at the turn of the century.
https://www.amazon.com/Hundred-Kings-Thomas-Bertram-Costain/dp/B0006ASECA?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B0006ASECA
Thomas Bertram Costain was born on May 8, 1885 in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. He was the son of John Herbert Costain, a carpenter and building contractor, and of Mary Schultz.
He was educated in the Brantford public schools, where he showed an early interest in history and biography. He always wanted to be a writer, and before graduating from high school he completed four novels.
None brought him more than a letter of rejection. One of these early efforts was a 70, 000-word romance about Maurice of Nassau.
Costain's writing career began in 1902, when, having had a mystery story accepted by the Brantford Courier, he was offered a $5-a-week job as a reporter on the newspaper.
After his job with the Brantford paper, Costain went to work for the Guelph (Ontario) Daily Mercury (1908).
In 1910 he joined the Maclean Publishing Company, editing three trade journals: Plumber and Steamfitter, Hardware and Metal, and Milliner and Drygoods. Soon thereafter he became editor of Maclean's Magazine, a position he held until 1920.
Costain went to the United States in 1920 as chief associate editor of the Saturday Evening Post.
After being naturalized as a United States citizen later that year, he spent fourteen years with the Post, contacting and working with new writers.
In 1934 he became eastern story editor for Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation.
From 1937 to 1939, with E. H. Ellis and P. Hal Sims, Costain put out a small literary magazine, American Cavalcade, which in his later years he described as "a promising infant, but it died young. "
From 1939 to 1946 Costain was a part-time advisory editor for Doubleday.
In 1940, Costain's interest in history, coupled with a less time-consuming schedule, led to his first serious fictional efforts. Yet his first start was a false one. He began work on four short novels, but was "enough of an editor not to send them out. " Costain found his métier by turning to what he knew best--history and biography. He conceived a six-part series, "The Stepchildren of History, " in which he intended to sketch the lives of six interesting but unknown historical figures. On the advice of his editor, Costain turned each sketch into a book. The first, For My Great Folly (1942), depicts the life of John Ward, a seventeenth-century English pirate. It is based on the Free Rovers, sailors who fought the Spanish but were alienated from their homeland. In The Black Rose (1945) Costain describes the life and times of the Mongolian warrior Bayan of the Hundred Eyes. It sold about 1 million copies in six months. Like his later novel The Silver Chalice (1952), it was made into a movie. Costain's historical novels were based on extensive research. For The Silver Chalice he consulted more than 1, 000 sources on biblical culture in order to tell the story of the young artisan who later made the chalice to hold the sacred cup that Christ had used at the Last Supper.
Much like well-detailed social histories, Costain's novels show what people wore, what they ate and drank, and how they spoke (including slang and dialects, which he managed to represent in English).
Costain's nonfiction historical series "Pageant of England" and his books on Canadian history have been praised by experts.
He was a masterful storyteller. With fast-moving adventure plots, intriguing characters, and vivid descriptions of past times and places, Costain's novels represent a notable achievement. But he should also be recognized as a successful editor and literary scout during his years with the Saturday Evening Post.
Costain died in New York City.
(Hardcover: 472 pages Publisher: Doubleday; Book Club (BC...)
(A good, fictionalized biography about the Alexander Graha...)
(Novel of warm, appealing story of a young boy and a Canad...)
(The Magnificent Century a History of the Plantagenets)
(Vintage paperback)
(book)
Quotations: "I still think of myself as a reporter in the sense that a reporter tries to be accurate and interesting a writer has no right to be dull. "
Quotes from others about the person
"Thomas Costain belongs to the school of Michelet in his conviction that history ought to be a resurrection of the flesh, and he is in the great tradition of Scott and Dumas in his ability to make it fascinating. " (Geoffrey Bruun)
On January 12, 1910, he married Ida Randolph Spragge; they had two daughters.