Soldier's Joy Author:Madison Smartt Bell Thomas Laidlaw, a Vietnam vet, returns to his family's Tennessee farm after the war, in a state of shock and depression, and spends his time practicing the banjo. He comes back to life when he meets up with his black friend from childhood, a fellow veteran named Redmon, and joins him in a war against the local Klansmen that is not unlike the one... more » they left behind in Vietnam.« less