Love & War: The World War II Letters of Arthur Smook is a gripping account of a love affair against the backdrop of war, and a fascinating first-person view of life in the Infantry. The story begins with Arthur's joshing letters to Cornell pal Sylvia and turns to passion after they become engaged during a home leave. Sylvia visits the young Infantry 1st Lieutenant in Texas but they do not marry. He is shipped overseas in October 1944, fights in the Battle of the Bulge, and is one of the few in his unit to survive. Arthur writes passionate letters from the front, receives four purple hearts and a bronze star, and survives to command prisoner stockades as he waits to be returned to the states. His feelings and descriptions about all of these events are expressed in a manner that is always articulate and heartfelt: sometimes humorous, sometimes painful. Arthur Smook was caught up in the events of the era: Hitler's death, the Yalta Conference, the death of FDR, and the dropping of the atomic bomb in the context of an individual's wartime life. The letters interweave these historic moments with everyday life in foxholes and a longing to return to his love in a way that compels us to keep reading.