Customer Reviews
i love this book - By: Bat, 15 Apr 2007 
it's my favourite book on gothic culture that i have red so far. a good thing for the misinformed & those parents of young goths who are ready to callin a priest .it has in-depth looks at all things associated with gothic culture, although some goths may find that certain subject areas are not necessary, i think that covering these areas is only necessary for the outside world to see how far a part or not a part of gothic culture these things are..such as the aformention drinking of absinthe. gothic culture is wide & varried & is not a cult with set out rules..you must like this music dress this way & drink this drink or your not a proper goth, & i think nancy kilpatrick has shown thisin her book. gothic culture is such a wide subject to cover with such varying subgeneras & different views on what being goth is about. i personally think she has highlighted a lot of stereo typical views & shown that they are completely false ideals. as well as including history & proper cultural information. topped off with a small helping of urls.
Interesting and comprehensive - By: Night, 21 May 2006 I'd wanted a book on goth culture for a while, & after some deliberation I decided on this one. I suppose what finally decided me was the section on absinthe, which is a favourite subject of mine, but after reading the rest of the book I was glad that I had chosen it, as it was all well written & interesting.
Goth is an extremely wide & expansive subject, so writing a 'bible' on it is a very hard task to set yourself, but Kilpatrick has lived up to it admirably. This book does not merely concentrate on goth culture today, or just gothic fashion & music (although there are great sections on these subjects), but gives a comprehensive study of gothic through the ages, including how today's 'goths' are connected to the original 'Goths'. Other areas studied are gothic architecture, art, writing, & even a section on famous graveyards.
While the goths interviewed may not represent every sort of person who is involvedin the culture, they do help to illustrate how very varied goth is, showing people from many different countries, backgrounds & tastes coming together under the same mantle. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interestedin the gothic culture, or who is goth themselves, just as long as you remember that no book can ever represent the entirety of the culture.
A good book, but not quite a bible - By: Miss Vixen, 19 Apr 2006 
While it is clear that the author spent a lot of time & dedicationin creating this book, it does not quite live up to the title.
One would expect it to follow on from Mick Mercer but it does not really do this. The section for instance on absinthe, seems a little unnecessary...yes the drink is linked to Poe & Baudelaire, but it is not really an integral part of immersing yourselfin goth culture.
Also, the scope of people interviewed perhaps does not accurately represent the scene (which admittedly is hard to do)in its entirity.
This is not a bad book, but if you're looking for a book more about the scene then head for Mick Mercer's '21st century goth' which although a little out of date, is a veritable treasure trove of websites related to clothes, music, make up, gigs & so much more.
