“The research upon which this book is based is exhaustive, and McCandless has consulted a rich array of source material relevant to the story of how madness was treated in South Carolina.” — Journal of the Behavioral Sciences
“Well-researched and engrossing.” — American Historical Review
“McCandless provides a good picture of the attitudes toward and treatments of the insane and especially the changes occurring during this period.” — CHOICE
“Historians of medicine and science will find this study extremely useful. Its great strength lies in McCandless’s ability to remain sensitive to local peculiarities of politics, race, and culture while still situating his story in the larger framework of national and even international developments concerning the diagnosis, care, and treatment of the mentally ill.” — Isis
“Peter McCandless’s Moonlight, Magnolias, and Madness is a fine work that fills a void in the history of mental disorders in the South. It is impressively researched and clearly written. What McCandless demonstrates is that a variety of elements — political, fiscal, ideological, racial, and medical — entered into the shaping of public policy in South Carolina. An important contribution to medical, social, and southern history.” — Gerald N. Grob, Rutgers University
