Gone With the Wind

In 1936 Margaret Mitchell published her one and only book, "Gone With the Wind", a sweeping romantic story about the American Civil War from the point of view of the Confederacy. The novel is set in Clayton County and Atlanta, both in Georgia, during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era. It depicts the struggles of young Scarlett O‘Hara, the spoiled daughter of a well-to-do plantation owner, who must use every means at her disposal to claw her way out of poverty, establishing a successful business by capitalizing on the struggle to rebuild the South. Throughout the book she is motivated by her unfulfilled love for Ashley Wilkes, an honourable man who is happily married. After a series of marriages and failed relationships with other men, notably the dashing Rhett Butler, she has a change of heart and determines to win Rhett back. "Gone with the Wind" was popular with American readers from the outset and was the top American fiction bestseller in 1936 and 1937. Mitchell received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for the book in 1937. It was adapted into the 1939 film of the same name, which has been considered to be one of the greatest movies ever made and also received the Academy Award for Best Picture.