In Citizen Spy , Michael Kackman investigates how media depictions of the slick, smart, and resolute spy have been embedded in the American imagination. Looking at secret agents on television and the relationships among networks, producers, government bureaus, and the viewing public in the 1950s and 1960s, Kackman explores how Americans see themselves in times of political and cultural crisis. During the first decade of the Cold War, Hollywood developed such shows as I Led 3 Lives and Behind Closed Doors with the approval of federal intelligence agencies, even basing episodes on actual case files. These “documentary melodramas” were, Kackman argues, vehicles for the fledgling television industry to proclaim its loyalty to the government, and they came stocked with appeals to patriotism and anti-Communist vigilance.  As the rigid cultural logic of the Red Scare began to collapse, spy shows became more playful, self-referential, and even critical of the ideals professed in their own scripts. From parodies such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Get Smart to the more complicated global and political situations of I Spy and Mission: Impossible , Kackman situates espionage television within the tumultuous culture of the civil rights and women’s movements and the war in Vietnam. Yet, even as spy shows introduced African-American and female characters, they continued to reinforce racial and sexual stereotypes.  Bringing these concerns to the political and cultural landscape of the twenty-first century, Kackman asserts that the roles of race and gender in national identity have become acutely contentious. Increasingly exclusive definitions of legitimate citizenship, heroism, and dissent have been evident through popular accounts of the Iraq war. Moving beyond a snapshot of television history, Citizen Spy provides a contemporary lens to analyze the nature—and implications—of American nationalism in practice.  Michael Kackman is assistant professor in Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas, Austin.

在《公民间谍》中，迈克尔-卡克曼调查了媒体对狡猾、聪明、果断的间谍的描述是如何嵌入美国人的想象中的。通过观察电视上的特工以及20世纪50年代和60年代网络、制片人、政府机构和观众之间的关系，卡克曼探索了美国人在政治和文化危机时期如何看待自己。在冷战的第一个十年里，好莱坞在联邦情报机构的批准下制作了《我有三条命》和《闭门造车》等节目，甚至以实际的案件档案为基础制作剧集。卡克曼认为，这些纪录片式的情节剧“是新生的电视业宣扬其对政府忠诚的工具，它们充满了对爱国主义和反共产主义警惕的呼吁。从《来自U.N.C.L.E.的男人》（The Man from U.N.C.L.E.）和《聪明》（Get Smart）这样的模仿剧，到《我的间谍》（I Spy）和《不可能的任务》（Mission: 卡克曼将间谍电视置于民权和妇女运动以及越南战争的动荡文化之中。然而，即使间谍节目引入了非裔美国人和女性角色，它们仍然强化了种族和性别的陈规定型观念。通过对伊拉克战争的流行描述，合法公民身份、英雄主义和异议的排他性定义越来越明显。公民间谍》超越了电视历史的快照，为分析美国民族主义在实践中的性质†"和影响†"提供了一个当代镜头。