Job/Security: A Composite Portrait of the Expanding American Security Industry

Goodwin and Schwarzschild (In Security), art and creative writing professors at the University at Albany-SUNY, respectively, take a frank and fascinating look at the American security industry and those who comprise it. Interviewing and photographing state, private sector, and civil service employees, the authors spotlight Victor Manjarrez, a retired Border Security agent who pursued the job because he’d dreamed of “doing something bigger than I am,” but soon encountered its grim on-the-ground realities (“She had no idea what was going to go on, what was going to happen to her,” he recalls of a crying migrant whose brother had died during his crossing; “That’s what I went home with... it takes a toll on you”). Former CIA agent Diana Bolsinger describes the burnout she experienced from doing counterterrorism work, while others critique the sociopolitical forces undergirding their jobs. Alongside expressive, black-and-white photos of their profile subjects, Goodwin and Schwarzschild delve into the security industry’s effects on workers (including higher divorce rates due to long hours and secrecy) and society at large, shedding light on what it means to be safe, from whom, and at whose expense. It’s a revealing and sobering study. Photos. (Aug.)

Correction: A previous version of this review misspelled Edward Schwarzschild’s last name and incorrectly referred to Danny Goodwin as a professor of art history.