First, let me apologize if I'm not answering you all correctly. Hopefully, all of you who have so kindly replied will read this. "Golden age" makes sense as a definition as Part IV of this book is called "The Golden Age." The complete quote is: "During 1941, in the wake of that outburst of gaudy hopefulness, the World's Fair, a sizable portion of the citizens of New York City had the odd experience of feeling for the time in which they were living, at the very moment they were living in it, that strange blend of optimism and nostalgia which is the usual hallmark of the aetataureate delusion."