Books: From the Pen of N

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS (312 pp.)—Translated and Edited by J. M. Thompson—Everyman'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 mouth—natural, conversational words spoken with...

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