“[Culture Creep] interrogates a seemingly disparate array of millennial pop culture obsessions, from NXIVM to nostalgia for the teen magazines of the aughts. Under Bolin’s gimlet eye, what connects these topics is the overlap between (post)feminism, late capitalism, and technology, which all inspire cultish thinking. It all makes for an ambitious and unexpected collection.” — NPR Best Books of the Year“Hypnotic . . . In Culture Creep, nostalgia serves as Bolin’s own ritual of vigilance; her inspection of erstwhile icons and aesthetics leads to insights on what lessons to learn from their mistakes." — The New Republic“Ferociously smart . . . Bolin’s sharp analysis draws unintuitive connections between a variety of political and cultural targets, offering a caustic take on the vicissitudes of modern life. This solidifies Bolin’s status as a vital chronicler of millennial ennui.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Admirers of razor-sharp, social science-backed cultural criticism will fly through this utter treat of a collection. Bolin's shrewd skewerings of late-stage capitalism, the fanaticism surrounding brand founders, and other pop culture obsessions are not only prescient and illuminating but a true pleasure to read." — Amanda Montell, New York Times bestselling author of The Age of Magical Overthinking and Cultish"In Culture Creep, Alice Bolin traces the rot back to its sources, looking at the ways Millennials have been indoctrinated through our cultural consumption, and more worryingly, what exactly we've been indoctrinated into. I can think of no higher compliment than to state that this book re-framed my entire adolescence. I highly recommend you read it." — Ling Ma, author of Severance and Bliss Montage"It feels impossible that anything could top Alice Bolin's staggeringly brilliant 2018 collection, Dead Girls, but—naturally—she's back to top herself. Culture Creep is an unforgettable, gut-churning ride into the hell of Millennial girlhood, from its nightmarish roots to its disquieting future. This book will not comfort you. But it will make everything clear." — Carmen Maria Machado, author of In the Dream House and Her Body and Other Parties“If power comes from clear-eyed, uncompromising knowledge, Bolin’s text is a tool for the takedown of more current trends of consumerism, oppression, and the new technology that fuels them. A ferocious defense of a generation of women against the forces that made them.” — Kirkus Reviews“[A] deliciously dry, moody essay collection… Bolin’s book is a lyrical meditation.” — Carina Chocano, New York Times Book Review, on Dead Girls“Excellent... an uncompromising and infinitely engaging exploration of the existential burdens of being a woman or a girl living, and dying, in our misogynist culture… Bolin’s essays dismantle our romantic, toxic notions about female sexuality and innocence, and interrogate her own role in consuming them, in order to solve the ongoing, unsolved mysteries of how real girls and women can outlive America’s obsession with their ruin.” — Salon.com on Dead Girls“Sharp-eyed… [Bolin] stakes her ground with a refreshing air of defiance, freely mixing highbrow and lowbrow, late-night cable television with classics of American literature. In her willingness to show herself as a work in progress, thinking through a problem rather than presenting its solution, she leaves breathing room for indecision and revision, ensuring that her writing is always pulsing with life.” — Washington Post on Dead Girls“Bracing and blazingly smart, Alice Bolin’s Dead Girls could hardly be more needed or more timely. A critical contribution to the cultural discussion of gender and genre, Los Angeles and noir, the unbearable persistence of the male gaze and the furtive potency of female rage.” — Megan Abbott, Edgar Award–winning author of You Will Know Me“The essay collection takes a good hard look at this fascination with dead girls… The cultural criticism serves to help us all think a little bit more about what we’re consuming—and who’s being damaged by it.” — Entertainment Weekly"Stylish and inspired." — New York Times Book Review, Editor’s Choice, on Dead Girls“Dead Girls turns experience into literature… Amid the atomized sprawl of American cities and American culture, Bolin lays bare the connections lurking beneath the glare and the violence, daring us to accept nothing as it is.” — Los Angeles Review of Books“I love Dead Girls! Bolin’s essays are the perfect blend of criticism, humor, and memoir. The book made me think about my own fascination with true crime in a way I have never considered before. This is a book for any mystery/true crime fanatic... or even a casual fan.” — Emma Roberts, Belletrist“With this book, Alice Bolin has singlehandedly rekindled my affection for criticism-as-memoir, offering a wry, supremely intelligent reinvention of the genre. Dead Girls is about living in, and through, culture; about the inseparability of art and life; about the lies we tell ourselves and other people, and the lies we love to be told. And it’s just so, so funny and sad and big-hearted. I love this writer’s every word and I look forward to reading her for the rest of my life.” — J. Robert Lennon, author of Broken River"This isn’t just an essay collection but one of the biggest of the season… A smart, feminist take on an endlessly juicy subject.” — Literary Hub, on Dead Girls“The nonfiction book everyone is talking about.” — Bustle, on Dead Girls
