Enemies within

the long version

"Enemies Within presents the literature and film of the cold war and AIDS eras as evidence, manifestation, and symptom of the recurring ills of our postnuclear time: global threat, buried fears, and a paranoid reaction to the infectious other. Foertsch argues that our shared experience of and response to AIDS not only significantly resembles but also emerged directly from its midcentury predecessor, which conditioned us to dread worldwide biological disaster and an invisible enemy. She considers the "false binaries" (straight/gay, patriot/traitor, healthy/infected) that promise protection from an invasive threat and the utopian impulse to purge, homogenize, and relocate problematic individuals outside the city walls."--BOOK JACKET.