Riesman gives a sensitive and moving account of a shy, forty-four-year-old farmer from the Kentucky hills who, after a life of dependence and virtual serfdom with a dominating father and a critical older brother, got his first taste of freedom by enlisting in the Army during World War II. Later, feeling that his life had been a failure, he came to a Veterans' Hospital for help, where his complaints and request for a pension enlisted attention from the staff. His real problem, that he must break away now or never from his family, was understood, and help and support were provided in plans for him to escape from 'the isolation ward of a back-country farm'.