This course examines the use of “National Security” to mobilize Americans against identified “enemies of the state” from WWII to the present “war on terrorism.” It pursues this study through fiction, film, social science and other discourses on these and the following historical struggles: the Cold War, African American civil rights, the Vietnam War, LGBT rights, and immigration. Active and informed participation in class discussion, short critical responses to assigned readings, a group project, and a final 8 page critical essay are required. Required reading will include a course packet (short stories and essays) and the following novels: Chester Himes’s If He Hollers Let Him Go and Cotton Comes to Harlem, John Okada’s No No Boy, and Graham Greene’s, The Quiet American.