“Cultural historian Carol Siegel provides a fascinating look at Goth, a subculture among Western youth. She tracks Goth down, reveals the sources of its darkness and culture, showing that this response to the modern world has not disappeared but has dove underground.”

“[Carol Siegel] makes a significant contribution to the intellectual discourse on this subculture . . . The panoramic quality of Goth’s Dark Empire certainly poses a challenge, and the book makes no apology for its wide coverage of material from various disciplines. Instead, Siegel presents this diversity and complexity as a fundamental feature of the Goth community, its openness, and its fluidity. . . ”
 — Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature

“Siegel . . . counters the dearth of research into goth and the hostility of post-Columbine representations with a sympathetic, compelling examination of goth subculture as premised on gender fluidity, with sadomasochistic practices as 'radical technologies of resistance.' . . . Recommended.”
 — Choice