A story of a civilization Gone with the Wind...

How could I have forgotten the most famoust piece of literature set during the Civil War...Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. First published in May 1936, this romantic novel is set in Gerogia during the Civil War and Reconstruction. We follow Scarlett O'Hara, a spoiled daughter of a well-to-do plantation owner, who is infatuated with Ashley Wilkes, who, although attracted to Scarlett, marries his cousin Melanie instead. At Ashley and Melanie's engagement party, Scarlett meets Rhett Butler, who has a reputation as a rogue. As the Civil War begins, Scarlett accepts a marriage proposal from Melanie's brother, Charles Hamilton, who soon dies of disease in training. Scarlett's main concern regarding his death is that she must wear black and cannot attend parties.

After the war, Scarlett inherits Tara and manages to keep the place going. When Scarlett cannot get money from Rhett to pay the taxes on Tara, she marries her sister's fiancé, Frank Kennedy, takes control of his business, and increases its profitability with business practices that make many Atlantans resent her. Frank is killed when he and other Ku Klux Klan members raid a shanty town where Scarlet was assaulted while driving alone. Remorseful after Frank's death, Scarlett marries Rhett, who is aware of her passion for Ashley but hopes that one day she will come to love him instead. Scarlett eventually comes to realize that she does love Rhett, but only once the couple has been through so much that Rhett has fallen out of love with her.

In 1939, Gone with the Wind was made into a film that recieved 10 Academy Awards. It starred Viven Leigh as the ever-stubborn Scarlett O'Hara, Clark Gable as the entrprenure with an air of aristocratic pomposity yet loving, Rhett Butler, Leslie Howard as the old-fashioned and sincere AShley Wilkes, Olivia de Havilland as the kind and sweet Melanie Hamilton-Wilkes and Hattie McDaniel as the fiesty Mammie.