When you read the private correspondence of Jeffrey Epstein and his myriad associates, it’s very difficult not to wonder from time to time — somewhat absurdly, as though in self-defense against the heaves of outrage and disgust — who exactly these people think they are. Self-regard drips from these missives in putrid globs: the jokes at once dirty and corny (a grim combination); the unseemly opining on the moral state of the underclasses; the casual matchmaking between heads of state, oligarchs, and political impresarios. But then, of course, that’s the absurdity of it. Given their standing in the world and...