Elaine Tyler May's Fortress America traces how Americans became consumed by fears of external enemies and each other, transforming the nation into a 'security state.' May, a historian at the University of Minnesota, examines the Cold War origins of contemporary security obsessions, from bomb shelters to gated communities to mass incarceration. She shows how fear has been used to justify surveillance, militarization, and the erosion of civil liberties, while offering false promises of safety. The book is particularly strong on how security fears have intersected with racial anxiety, from the association of civil rights activists with Communist subversion to the post-9/11 targeting of Muslim Americans. May argues that the massive apparatus built to protect Americans has often made them less safe, diverting resources from genuine threats like public health while encouraging vigilantism and gun culture. Fortress America is historical analysis with contemporary implications; May sees the Trump era as an intensification of patterns established decades earlier. She writes accessibly for general readers while drawing on extensive archival research. The book offers no easy solutions but suggests that recognizing how fear has been manufactured and exploited is the first step toward a different politics. Essential reading for understanding America's security fixations.