Argues that mandated normativity - as a political agenda and a social ethic - precluded explicit expression of the anxiety produced by America's radically reconfigured postwar population. Alan Nadel explores influential non-fiction books, magazine articles, and public documents in conjunction with films to examine how these films worked through fresh anxieties that emerged during the 1950s.

Argues that mandated normativity - as a political agenda and a social ethic - precluded explicit expression of the anxiety produced by America's radically reconfigured postwar population. Alan Nadel explores influential non-fiction books, magazine articles, and public documents in conjunction with films to examine how these films worked through fresh anxieties that emerged during the 1950s.