The following is my take:

The context has me believe that "safer of entertainment" refers to Maugham's opinion that the reader ends up getting entertainment from historians who fall short of presenting fact-based perspectives. 

I prefer to leave translation to the translator.

所有跟帖： 

• Thank you very much for your explanation. -美国王过人- ♂ (0 bytes) () 07/09/2023 postreply 20:16:27

• You are always welcome. So are your translations. -renqiulan- ♂ (0 bytes) () 07/09/2023 postreply 20:24:02