Book excerpt: This book analyses the gender roles and political contexts of spy fiction narratives published during the years of the Cold War. It offers an introduction to the development of spy fiction both in England and in the United States and explores the ways in which issues such as the atomic bomb, double agents, paranoia, propaganda and megalomania manifest themselves within the genre. The book examines the ongoing marginalization of women within spy fiction texts, exploring the idea that this unique period in global history is responsible for the active promotion and celebration of masculinity and male superiority. From James Bond to Jason Bourne, the book evaluates the ongoing enforcement of patriarchal ideas and oppressions that, in the name of national security and patriotic duty, have contributed to the development of a genre in which discrimination and bias continue to dominate. Sian MacArthur is an independent academic and researcher with literary interests in Gothic and science fiction, and historical interests in the Cold War. She is the author of Crime and the Gothic: Identifying the Gothic Footprint in Modern Crime Fiction (2011) and Gothic Science Fiction: 1818 to the Present (Palgrave 2015), and Re-defining the Gothic with Mo Haydar in The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Gothic.