A Golden Haze of Memory

“Help[s] unravel the complicated intentions in the cycles of creation and remembrance that have shaped Charleston across two centuries.” — Journal of Architectural Historians

“A model memory study that could be duplicated in a region often focused on itself and its illustrious past.” — South Carolina Historical Magazine

“Provides a real sense of Charleston’s relationship with the rest of the nation. . . . Significantly deepens our understanding of how historical memory was both created and deployed in a southern city that provided a model for similar work across the region.” — Journal of Southern History

“Anyone interested in historic preservation, cultural tourism, and the interpretation of historic sites will find #A Golden Haze of Memory# especially useful.” — Georgia Historical Quarterly

“By explaining how the popular but distorted image of [Charleston’s] history was constructed, Yuhl has constructively and eloquently reopened a discussion that previously occurred only in angry shouts and anxious whispers.” — Charleston Post and Courier

“A Golden Haze of Memory . . . promises to provide an outstanding read for those interested in the creation and presentation of history, in the cultural history of the south, and in the interwar years. Yuhl’s detailed and excellent account of the creation of 'Historic Charleston' offers a substantial contribution to the growing field of historical memory.” — Southern Historian

“For a brief moment, as this elegant and penetrating study reminds us, Charleston boasted a cultural 'renaissance' that literally transformed the city and its place in the American imagination. A Golden Haze of Memory reveals how the preoccupations of some of Charleston’s colorful residents became harnessed to one of the nation’s most robust campaigns of civic memory. Yuhl underscores the ambiguous legacy of this movement for the city’s residents and for a nation that continues to look to Charleston as a symbol of the Old South. With a dazzling mixture of social and cultural history, this book represents a major contribution to our understanding of American arts and society during the 1920s and '30s.” — W. Fitzhugh Brundage, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

“Yuhl’s study of the local elite’s shaping and uses of history in Charleston between the First and Second World Wars is well conceived, broadly researched, and nicely phrased. A fine book.” — David Moltke-Hansen, President and CEO, Historical Society of Pennsylvania