Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index

Gone With the Wind

Table of contents
1 The Book
2 The Film
3 ISBN numbers
4 External Links

The Book

Gone with the Wind is a novel by Margaret Mitchell. Published in 1936, the book was an international hit almost immediately. A story detailing the trials of southern belle Scarlett O'Hara during the American Civil War and the Reconstruction, Gone With the Wind is an enormously long historical romance which has spawned an Academy Award-winning film and several authorized sequels. A devoted fan base exists as well. The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937.

Critics and historians regard the book as having a strong ideological commitment to the cause of the Confederacy. This is apparent from the book's opening pages in which a description of the way in which Scarlett's beaux, the Tarleton twins, have been expelled from university and accompanied home, out of a sense of honour, by their elder brothers presents a metaphor of the South's interpretation of the issue of statehood for Kansas.

The copyright holders attempted to suppress publication of a book, The Wind Done Gone, which told the story from the point of view of the slaves, but the federal appeals court turned them down in 2001. The successful defence was based on the court's acceptance of the book as parody.

The Film

In 1938, film producer David O. Selznick decided that he wanted to create a movie based on Gone With the Wind. He bought the rights for $50,000, a record amount at the time. A well-publicized casting search for an actress to play Scarlett resulted in the hire of young British actress Vivien Leigh, although many other famous actresses had been tested, including Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, Lana Turner, Tallulah Bankhead, and Lucille Ball.

The film premiered on December 15, 1939 with estimated production costs of four million dollars. It was a smash hit and is still regarded by many as one of the greatest films ever made; the film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry and has undergone a complete digital restoration.

Credits

(A full list can be found at The Internet Movie Database: Gone With the Wind (1939) Nominated

ISBN numbers

External Links