• Books
  • Audiobooks
  • Events
  • Radio
  • Blog
  • Contact
Menu
  • Books
  • Audiobooks
  • Events
  • Radio
  • Blog
  • Contact
Search
0
  • No products in the basket.

Books

book

Darkly: Black History and America's Gothic Soul

by: Leila Taylor

£7.99 – £10.99

Haunted houses, bitter revenants and muffled heartbeats under floorboards — the American gothic is a macabre tale based on a true story.

Part memoir and part cultural critique, Darkly reveals the heart of America’s darkness in the specters left from chattel slavery and the persistence of white supremacy. Locating the gothic in technologies of terror, the insurgency of melancholy, and the guilty conscience of a country that got away with murder, Darkly shows how this trauma has been metabolized into art, music, film, and literature.

America’s story is founded in horror, with a culture shaped from the Black experience, proving that you can’t get more goth than Black.

by: Leila Taylor

SKU 9781912248544 Categories Cultural Studies, History, Occult, Politics
Clear

— OR —

Author
Book info
Reviews
Author

  • Leila Taylor

    Leila Taylor is a former goth kid and current Creative Director at Brooklyn Public Library. She’s given talks at the International Gothic Association and the Morbid Anatomy Museum, has an MFA in Graphic Design from Yale University and an MA in Liberal Studies from The New School of Social Research.

Book info

Paperback with free eBook9781912248544
EBook9781912248551
Number of pages206
Publication date12/11/2019

Reviews

Hanif Abdurraqib, author of Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest and They Can’t Kill Us Until they Kill Us

“I am struck by the depth of Leila Taylor’s vision. The generosity shown in the way a history (and present) is illuminated. This book does so much beautiful work to widen the expectations and understandings of blackness, and I am immensely thankful for it.”

Colin Dickey, author of Ghostland

“A powerful and deeply personal exploration of what it means to be an outsider within an outsider culture. Between the black aesthetic of goth culture and the Blackness of America, Leila Taylor navigates seamlessly between cultural critique, personal history, and a history of America’s troubled past in writing that is incessant, curious, and generous, and a voice that is at turns both searing and vulnerable. Powerful and strange, uncanny and unforgettable.”

Baratunde Thurston

“Takes us on a path that connects the Middle Ages, Edgar Allen Poe, the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, Afropunk, Prince, Black Lives Matter, and Hot Topic. It’s an incredible journey…”

Irenosen Okojie

“Fascinating. A revelatory exploration of blackness, goth culture and the ramifications of inherited trauma.”

Library Journal

“A rare glimpse into American gothic from an African American perspective.”

Share:

Related Books

Related products

  • Pre-order
    Sven Lindqvist

    Dig Where You Stand

    £7.99 – £12.99 Select options
  • Pre-order
    Christiana Spens

    The Fear

    £7.99 – £12.99 Select options
  • Pre-order
    Lesley-Ann Brown

    Blackgirl on Mars

    £7.99 – £10.99 Select options
  • Pre-order
    Aaron J Leonard

    Whole World in an Uproar: Music, Rebellion and Repression – 1955-1972

    £7.99 – £12.99 Select options
Back to top
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Submissions
  • Jobs
  • Distribution
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
Menu
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Submissions
  • Jobs
  • Distribution
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

  • Books
  • Audiobooks
  • Events
  • Radio
  • Blog
  • Contact
Menu
  • Books
  • Audiobooks
  • Events
  • Radio
  • Blog
  • Contact