Showing how the upswell of paranoia and growing demand for security in the post-9/11 world has paradoxically created widespread insecurity, these varied essays examine how this anxiety-laden mindset erodes spaces both architectural and personal, encroaching on all aspects of everyday life. Starting from the most literal levela "barricades and barriers in front of buildings, beefed up border patrols, gated communities, "safe rooms,"a "to more abstract levelsa "enhanced surveillance at public spaces such as airports, increasing worries about contagion, the psychological predilection for fortified spacea "the contributors cover the full gamut of securitized public life that is defining the zeitgeist of twenty-first century America
