When Homeward Bound first appeared in 1988, it forever changed the way we understand America during the Cold War. Scholars previously understood the post-World War II era as a time when Americans turned away from politics to enjoy the fruits of peace and prosperity after decades of crisis and war, while their leaders remained preoccupied with the Soviet threat and the dangers of the Nuclear Age. Homeward Bound challenged the idea of a politically neutral private sphere, demonstrating that the Nuclear Age and the Cold War were not merely concerns of experts and politicians but were intertwined with American life at every level, from the boardroom to the bedroom. As Elaine Tyler May argues, the official foreign policy of "containment" toward the Soviet Union had a domestic counterpart, in which the perceived dangers of the era - nuclear war, communist subversion, consumer excess, sexual experimentation, and women's liberation - were "contained" within the family, an institution now expected to fulfill its members' hopes and dreams for security and the good life amid a frightening world. "Family containment" is now the standard interpretation of the era, and Homeward Bound has become a classic work. This new edition includes an updated introduction and a new epilogue that examines the legacy of Cold War obsessions with personal and family security in the present.