Four Years in Secessia Book

This was a really interesting, first-person account of one young Illinois man's experiences in the Civil War. BW Baker went on to have a distinguished academic career, so his letters are very readable. The letters are fleshed out by his great-grandson, a writer and historian.

Thank goodness that the great-grandson is a historian, b/c we didn't learn much about the battles that "Webb" participated in from his letters. That information was fleshed out by the writer. I downgraded the book to four stars, b/c the last quarter of the book was a reprinting of most of the source letters in their entirety. They were nearly reproduced in the text of the book, so I felt like Mr. Bobrick was padding the page totals of the book by reproducing the letters. Maybe others will prefer to read the letters w/o the preceding text. Interesting book anyway, esp considering the author's close relationship to the letter writer.