What is Goth? (& Other Essays)
A Timeline of Goth's History & Influence (2nd Edition)

 

“…I take the gothic back to times of enslavement in the United States; so much about our culture and the way we operate as a country has been born from it, from plantation ghost tours, to lynching postcards, to body cam footage. To me, it's more than a t-shirt slogan, social media visibility, or a hashtag. It's about connecting the past to the present, and realizing we've always fit into the narrative.”

“'What is Goth?' Afterword: Goth's Resentment” | J.W. THURSTON | Jul. 2021

Reviews & Praise

  • "Gorgeously illustrated and completely fascinating—even while goth culture professes to “include“ goths of color it never really pays enough respect to their hand in creating the genre and their belonging at the core of goth culture both in decades past and in the current scene. This book is fantastic if you want to whet your appetite to learn more on the subject which I certainly do. "

    — Sydney; What is Goth? customer review

  • "In her eloquently written book, What's Goth and Other Essays, J. W. Thurston humbly proclaims, "My word is not law," and it isn't--but her words are a great many other things. Deftly weaving the many threads of historicity from The Goths of East Germania, to the late polarizing Philly rapper Chynna Rogers--J. W. 's mission is beyond simple education and indoctrination. Thurston aims to stir up questions, and challenge long-held myths concerning the origins and pathways of gothic culture, while restoring swaths of it--which time, white supremacy, patriarchy, bigotry, ignorance, and xenophobia had sought to banish. J.W. Thurston is at their heart an artist who uses expert research, wordsmithing, illustrations, film, and music to bring home the fact that goth is not a monolith. Goth is the sum of every preceding dark moment from the barbaric acts perpetrated upon the Gutpudia people by the Roman Empire to the Transatlantic Slave Trade and beyond brought to bear in a melancholic symphony that shows no sign of ceasing. This literary effort by J. W. may not be law--but it is vital to anyone wanting to connect with the essence of goth beyond erroneous pages on Wikipedia."

    — Kevin T. Hobbs; Black Mary Studios

  • "I greatly appreciate texts that examine black folks in alternative subculture as folk tend to pretend that we don’t exist. I’m deeply interested in the ideas put forth by Thurston in terms of the roots of Goth subcultures."

    — Isaac Holloway; What is Goth? customer review

  • "I really love how she ties in … blind artists of the early 20’s to goth music. I would even say that Goth was a form of Blues music after reading this, and every country/culture has their own form of 'Blues' music."

    — Eric Finland; The Blues & Beyond | Review of I Wouldn’t Mind Dyin’ (& Other Essays)