Inclusive electromagnetic reactions in few-nucleon systems are studied basing on accurate three- and four-body calculations. The longitudinal 4He(e,e) response function obtained at qle 600 MeV/c completely agrees with experiment. The exact 4He spectral function obtained in a semirealistic potential model is presented, and the accuracy of the quasielastic response calculated with its help is assessed, as well as the accuracy of some simpler approximations for the response. The photodisintegration cross section of 3He obtained with the realistic AV14 NN force plus UrbanaVIII NNN force agrees with experiment. It is shown that this cross section is very sensitive to underlying nuclear dynamics in the E_gammasimeq 70-100 MeV region. In particular, the NNN nuclear force clearly manifests itself in this region.