GONE WITH THE WIND

Set in 1860s Atlanta, Gone with the Wind follows the story of the 17-year-old Scarlett O’Hara, the eldest of three daughters living a life of luxury on their father’s plantation. When President Lincoln demands the end of slavery in the South, the Civil War begins and Scarlett’s life and that of her family are thrown into turmoil. Her tempestuous relationship with army captain Rhett Butler serves as a metaphor for the irrevocable changes being wrought upon America itself.

Gone with the Wind, published in 1936, is one of the bestselling novels of the 20th century and won author Margaret Mitchell the Pulitzer Prize. Three years later in 1939, the film adaptation, starring Clarke Gable and Vivien Leigh, made box office history as one of the highest-grossing films of all time and is regarded as one of the bona-fide classics of popular cinema.