June 30, 1936: “Gone with the Wind” became an instant sensation upon its publication in 1936. A sweeping romance set during the Civil War; the novel later won a Pulitzer Prize and was adapted into a hugely successful film.

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Gone with the Wind

novel by Mitchell

Gone with the Wind, novel by Margaret Mitchell, published in 1936. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 1937. Gone with the Wind is a sweeping romantic story about the American Civil War from the point of view of the Confederacy. In particular it is the story of Scarlett O’Hara, a headstrong Southern belle who survives the hardships of the war and afterward manages to establish 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.