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Coco Chanel: A fashion icon whose name has become shorthand for timeless French chic, a shrewd businesswoman who overcame a childhood of poverty to build a luxury supernova and ... a Nazi spy?

One was Napoleon’s last place of exile. Another became home to survivors of the mutiny-stricken Bounty. They are St. Helena and the Pitcairn Islands, flecks of real estate set in vast oceans, each occupying a special place in history.

As a young man, James Lord went off to fight in World War II. In his memoir, Lord does less fighting with the enemy than with the homophobes in the service, who can see right through him. Most of all, however, Lord is at war with himself.