The Emperor's Last Island

Described by the author as a place ``further away from anywhere than anywhere else in the world,'' St. Helena is an island, ten-and-one-half miles long and six miles wide, located in the middle of the South Atlantic, on whichNapoleon spent the last six years of his life in exile (1815-1821). British author Blackburn offers an interesting account of Napoleon's difficult existence on this windy, rainy, rat-infested island, as he and his servants strove to maintain the fiction that he remained a powerful emperor. Interwoven with this chronicle the author presents the history of St. Helena, from its discovery in 1502 by Portuguese explorers through British occupation to 1989, when Blackburn visited St. Helena and retraced Napoleon's steps. Part biography, part travelogue, this is an engaging and unusual narrative. (May)