This book is an original and innovative study of how Gothic nostalgia and toxic memoryare used to underpin and promote the ongoing culture wars and populist politics incontemporary popular culture. The essays collected here cover topics from the spectral tothe ecological, deep fakes to toxic ableism, Mary Poppins to John Wick to revealhow the use of an imaginary past to shape the present, creates truly Gothic times that wecan never escape. These ¿hungry ghosts¿ from the past find resonance with the Gothicwhich speaks equally of a past that often not only haunts the present but will not let itescape its grasp. This collection will look at the confluence between various kinds of toxicnostalgia and popular culture to suggest the ways in which contemporary populism hasresurrected ideological monsters from the grave to gorge on the present and any possibilityof change that the future might represent.

1. Introduction