Letters to Barbara

Like Anne Frank's diary, these letters are a true document of war, imbued with a touching immediacy. Papaleo's amusingly illustrated letters to his daughter are filled with charming tales about such things as holidays, a bird that doesn't like vanilla ice cream, a funny dream he had after eating bean soup.

Writing not about battles and politics but about children being separated from their parents, what a soldier's day is like, and what he sees in the cities he passes through, Leo Meter provided for his daughter and for those who read this remarkable correspondence a view of war that combines a profound sense of loss with a promise for a better and happier future.