In the last twenty years, thousands upon thousands of the upper and middle classes have retreated into gated communities. In 2002, it is estimated that one in eight Americans will live in these exclusive neighbourhoods. What has sparked this alarming trend? Behind the Gates is Setha Low's revealing account of what life is like inside these suburban fortresses. After years researching and interviewing families in Long Island, New York and San Antonio, Texas, Low provides an inside view of gated communities to help explain why people flee to these enclaves. Parents with children, young married couples, "empty-nesters" and retirees express their need for safety, their secret fears of a more ethnically diverse America, and their desire to recapture the close-knit, picket-fenced communities of their childhood. Ironically, she shows, gated neighbourhoods are in fact no safer than other suburbs, and many who move there are disheartened by the insularity and restrictive rules of the community.