Gothic: Four Hundred Years of Excess, Horror, Evil, and Ruin

This book does a great job of going back to the roots of a look, sensibility, and style we tend to think of only in terms of kids with too much eye makeup and hairspray (not to mention cheesy music). Architecture, art, and literature--not just Robert Smith!

This book is wonderfully extensive covering everything from Elizabeth Bathory to The Cure. It would prove useful to both modern Goths and literary scholars. This is a one of a kind resource that you will keep referring back to. It is the single most useful book on my book shelves.

Instantly engrossing from the time it's picked up, GOTHIC is the best comprehensive study of the real gothic culture from the invasion of Eurpoe to present day. This book should be extremely interesting to anyone who studies literature or European history.

Using all his powers of perception Richard Davenport-Hines draws the black curtains back and reveals why humans have this odd fascination with anything gothic. Though insightful and often thorough to a painful degree, Hines seems to hit all the highlights in what is a most difficult topic to cover completely. Far from objective Hines gives his opinon on the greater and lesser talents of the Macabre, from Lord Byron to Poppy Z. Brite, Hines speaks about his subjects with passion or with ambivalence, depending on his preferance. Though the start is slow, tracing the history of English Gardens the book gradually builds up steam until the end, in which with great love he speaks of English modern artists. Throughout Hines is insightful and his style of writing mixed with the sordidness of the subject matter leads to a good informative book with plenty of appeal for those interested in the Gothic tradition.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is both exitingly written and scholarly convincing which is rare indeed. This is a must for everyone interested in gothic,it covers everything from 18th century gothic garden architecture to horror films and modern gothic fiction. An ample dose of "excess, horror, evil and ruin"...