This is the audio version of the fifth part of Getting Through Security: Counterterrorism, Bureaucracy and a Sense of the Modern (Routledge 2020) by Mark Maguire and David A. Westbrook.

This is Chapter Four, “The Mysterious Public,” a word imbricated in complicated ways with the very notion of security, the legitimation of violence, and so the state, to say nothing of the environment we inhabit.

Vincent Parlato did a fantastic job composing and performing really interesting music for each part, which sets off the rather dark discussion. In some ways, I think the audiobook is better than the text. He also edited the audio files, so I sound better than I really do. But life has gotten in the way, and we need this book to be available to the public. I therefore will put up the rest of the book in relatively short order, as raw audiofiles.

I hope Vince has time to come back to this project in due course. Be that as it may, Mark and I thank Vince for the great work he has done.