The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland is a comprehensive look at a children's book written over 150 years ago that still influences popular culture and courts controversy to this day. The book is obviously the result of meticulous research and details the various interpretation's of Lewis Carroll's creation through the years,from suggestions that it's a veiled occult work,a piece of political satire, a parable of the effects of drug taking and several others. Amongst other things "Alice" has influenced art,fashion,computer games and several variations of the original story in print and on film.
Carroll himself ,and his controversial relationship with Alice Liddell,who the fictional character was based on is investigated in depth and from someone who used to think the issue was with his fondness for one young girl I was shocked to read the reality. He actively sought out "girl-friends",female children to the rest of us,and was always actively pursuing more. He'd openly write to parents asking for access to their children and often for permission to photograph them naked. More amazingly ,many parents he contacted agreed. While author Angela Youngman tells us that attitudes were different back then I read enough to find him quite a loathsome and manipulative creature, as "different times" or not so did many of his contemporaries. I hadn't realised that Nabakov was inspired to write Lolita after translating Alice in Wonderland into Russian and said Humbert Humbert could just as well be called Carroll Carroll.
This a fascinating and well-written book that comprehensively covers the whole "Alice" phenomenon from what influenced its writing to it's incorporation into the Steampunk phenomenon of today and just about every facet of it in between.

"Was the enigmatic Lewis Carroll full of secrets and surprises, or was he just an innocent writer?"

I'll start by saying that this is a very thorough and well researched book. It starts by looking at the history of Lewis Carroll/Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, providing us with evidence and suggestions around the mysteries of his life - questionable relationships with children and young women being one main theme.

The book then goes through a wide range of chapters showing how Alice has become such a phenomenon for things like horror films, Lolita, pornography and steampunk. I especially liked reading about all the pop culture references that you may be aware of but don't even realise how directly related they are to Alice (such as Marilyn Mason's Eat Me, Drink Me, references in The Matrix and more recently - Black Mirror's 'Bandersnatch').

The facts about the theatre show in The Vaults in London were super interesting to read through, having been to the show myself some years ago. (I wish I'd gone twice now!) Also the parts linking to drugs and mental health. This book has left me with an awful lot to think about andd I won't think of Alice in Wonderland in the same way as I used to! A must read for any Alice In Wonderland fans and fanatics!