In this volume, Jarlath Killeen provides a detailed and accessible introduction to the gothic literature of the nineteenth century. Examining how themes and trends associated with early gothic novels were diffused in many different genres throughout the Victorian period—including the ghost story, the detective story, and the adventure story—History of the Gothic pays particular attention to how the gothic attempted to resolve the psychological and theological problems introduced with the modernization and secularization of British society, as well as the relationship between the child and horror.