CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 11/9/2026

Southern history-making women in 'These Long Shadows'

At last, Atelier Éditions has released These Long Shadows, cultural historian Monica Nelson’s beautifully designed and engagingly written illustrated meditation on the preserved house museums of fourteen distinguished Southern women—from writers like Flannery O’Connor, Eudora Welty and Margaret Mitchell to architect Amaza Lee Meredith, civil rights activists Pauli Murray and Ida B. Wells and Girl Scouts founder Juliet Gordon Low. Spanning 186 years, this 336-page paperback explores how public history, gender and mythology intersect within and through these historic house museums. Featuring a die-cut cover and a mixture of color, duotone and black-and-white printing, it seamlessly blends original photography, frank first-person research and archival materials—beginning with Nashville plantation owner Adelicia Acklen’s Belmont Mansion and ending with the Tryon, North Carolina, childhood home of musician Nina Simone.