NAPOLEON'S LETTERS (312 pp.)Translated and Edited by J. M. ThompsonEveryman's Library ($1.65).
Habitually at around 2 a.m., Dictator Napoleon Bonaparte strode into his writing room and assaulted his correspondence. He answered immediately a few important letters, laid others aside for further consideration, hurled the remainder on the floor. At 4 a.m. he summoned his secretary, who found the great man impatiently striding the floor in a white dressing gown, a handkerchief bound round his head.
"Write!" snapped the Emperor, and instantly a flood of words poured from the imperial mouthnatural, conversational words spoken with...