The Novel
In the spring of 1936, a new novel blew into the American home. This novel was that of Gone With The Wind, the story of a wilful girl and the people around her before, during, and after the American Civil War. The novel was an overnight sendation, selling millions of copies and commanding more than thirty printings.
What was the mind behind Gone With The Wind? How was a classic such as this created? In order to answer these questions, one must know the author, Margarett Mitchell. And to know the author, one must slip back into time. The place: Atlanta, Georgia. The year: 1900. In the homes that lined Peachtree Street and Decatur Street still lived the survivors of a conflict that had already taken its roots in the Old South.
Margarett Munnerlyn Mitchell was born on November 8, 1900 in Atlanta, Georgia. The War Between the States had been waged and lost only thirty-five years earlier and was still a vivid memory. Margarett was the fifth generation of her family to proundly call themselves Atlantians. As a child, she spent many long and lazy Sunday afternoons "sitting on the bony knees of Confederate veterans..." listening to war tales from relatives who had fought.