Gone with the Wind (Anniversary)

Margaret Mitchell was born in Atlanta in November 1900. When she was around thirteen, her family, affluent but not wealthy, moved into a big house on Peachtree Street, one of the principal settings for Gone with the Wind, which she began writing in 1926. The Macmillan Company published Gone with the Wind in May 1936; it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. The movie, which won ten Academy Awards, premiered in Atlantic City on December 15, 1939.I read the �Special Commemorative 60th-Anniversary Edition� (paperback) purchased from Amazon.com in February 2003, which commemorates the film, not the book. The back cover of that edition quotes the Washington Post claiming it�s �The greatest love story of our time, the story of Scarlett O�Hara and Rhett Butler�.� I suspect the person who wrote that saw the movie, but did not read the book. If it�s the love story that interests you, I suggest you buy the video. If you want to understand the origins of the South�s point of view though, at least the upper middle class Georgian point of view, then read this book.I was raised in Connecticut and have been often perplexed by the notions of some of my Southern white peers, puzzled for example by the intractable bigotry of intelligent people who are unwilling to understand that they ought to know better. Conversely, I�ve admired the generous, unselfish, seemingly pointless hospitality given me by a Southern adversary, a rival, so incongruent that it smacked of hypocrisy. Having read Gone with the Wind, I�m less perplexed and puzzled now. These people were bred on deep roots.Margaret Mitchell fashioned her novel from stories about slavery, the Civil War, reconstruction and abolition told by those who had survived those dramatic events. The people who lived through those terrible times, or their children, told those stories. From these tales, Margaret Mitchell painted a broad panorama of a culture in forced transformation: The brutal and reprehensible conduct of the Yankees, the greed of the carpetbaggers, the noble origins of the KKK, and the corruption of the North�s reconstruction. It is Southern noblesse telling the story of their decline. Margaret Mitchell is their apologist.The paperback version I read has 1024 pages of small type with narrow margins. Mitchell�s writing is sometimes exciting, but often it�s tedious. Descriptions tend to be excessive, and dialogue is often more like monologue. This style may have been fashionable fifty years ago, but I�ll deduct a star for it today.

Idk how no one is confused as to how they feel about this book (i’ve literally read no reviews and am making this assumption that no one is confused based off of the fact that no one among the few people i know who read have told me they are confused). I NEED to talk to someone about it though. So, if you are reading this review (you meaning one of the, like, 7 people who are my friends on goodreads), read this book, then REPORT BACK TO ME.As a placeholder, I’ve given this book a 5 out of 5 (i know if some of you see this rating, and have been at the receiving end of my rants regarding Gone With the Wind as i’ve been reading it, this rating is confusing lol; good, i’m super confused too)

A really, really good book. I saw the movie numerous times and didn't think I needed to read the book but I was wrong. The book was great.

I was a fan of the movie and decided to read the book, so many wonderful characters that I never got to see on screen, wade, ella, tony and lots of others

At age 70, GWTW, had been a favorite movie growing up. I decided to read the novel this summer and so glad I did. What a great literary work or art. It is so much more than “about the civil war”. I am from Georgia, so it resonated with me even more. Enjoy the story and all of its facets.