Companion publication to the Harry Ransom Center's exhibition, September 9, 2014-January 4, 2015, marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of the film's release.

Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of an American Classic. Published in the spring of 1936, Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind was an immediate and overwhelming success; millions of copies were sold in its first year alone. By the time the film opened on December 15, 1939, the anticipation and excitement were so great that the city of Atlanta declared the day an official holiday. Since then, more than 300 million people have seen the film and every year hundreds of thousands of copies of the novel are sold in dozens of languages. This lavishly illustrated book is the ultimate behind-the-scenes history of the novel, the film, and the phenomenon of Gone With the Wind. It includes wonderful anecdotes, original quotes from the stars and the directors souvenir programs from the original premiere, many rare never-before published photographs, and more, from the smell of the smoke and the heat of the flames during the filming of the "burning of Atlanta" sequence to the soft touch of the red dust at the location Tara; from the fangue on the faces of cast and crew after grueling months of shooting to the thrill of premiere night, you will experience the unfolding drama as if you were there.

The story of the tempestuous romance between Rhett Butler and Scarlet O'Hara is set amid the drama of the Civil War.

Haskell keeps both novel and movie at hand, moving from one to the other, comparing and distinguishing what Margaret Mitchell expresses from what obsessive producer David O. Selznick, directors George Cukor and Victor Fleming, screenplaywrights Sidney Howard and a host of fixers (including Ben Hecht and Scott Fitzgerald), and actors Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Hattie McDaniel, and others convey. She emphasizes the contributions of Selznick, Leigh, and in an entire chapter, Mitchell, drawing heavily and analytically on existing biographies, the literature of women and the Civil War, Civil War films (especially Birth of a Nation and Jezebel), and film criticism to such engaging effect as to not just revisit GWTW but to revive and intensify the enduring fascination of what Selznick dubbed the American Bible. --Olson, Ray Copyright 2009 Booklist.

“Exquisitely imagined, deeply researched . . . brings to the foreground the most enigmatic and fascinating figure in Gone with the Wind. This is a brave work of literary empathy by a writer at the height of his powers, who demonstrates a magisterial understanding of the period, its clashing cultures, and its heartbreaking crises. ” —Geraldine Brooks, author of March The only authorized prequel to Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind—the unforgettable story of Mammy. On a Caribbean island consumed by the flames of revolution, an infant girl falls under the care of two French émigrés, Henri and Solange Fournier, who take the beautiful child they call Ruth to the bustling American city of Savannah. What follows is the sweeping tale of Ruth’s life as shaped first by her strong-willed mistress, and then by Solange’s daughter Ellen and Gerald O’Hara, the rough Irishman Ellen chooses to marry; the Butler family of Charleston and their unexpected connection to Mammy Ruth; and finally Scarlett O’Hara—the irrepressible Southern belle Mammy raises from birth. As we witness the lives of three generations of women, gifted storyteller Donald McCaig reveals a nuanced portrait of Mammy, at once a proud woman and a captive, a strict disciplinarian who has never experienced freedom herself. Through it all, Mammy endures, a rock in the river of time. Set against the backdrop of the South from the 1820s until the dawn of the Civil War, here is a remarkable story of fortitude, heartbreak, and indomitable will—and a tale that will forever illuminate your reading of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind.

A Must-Have for Gone With the Wind Fans! From Margaret Mitchell’s tattered manuscript to the film’s seventy-fifth anniversary, this book is a behind-the-scenes chronicle of Gone With the Wind—the book, the movie, and the phenomenon that continues today. Related in loving detail are inside stories of the writing and publishing of the novel; the Hollywood frenzy of transforming the book into film, including casting headaches, on-set tensions, and jinxed scenes; the premiere; and the Academy Awards. This updated edition also contains the scoop on the publication of two GWTW sequels; the disastrous debut of the Scarlett television miniseries; the post–GWTW lives of cast members, such as the news of Gable’s secret lovechild; the restoration of three original costumes in time for GWTW’s seventy-fifth anniversary; and much, much more. The reader-friendly format—fact-packed features, profiles, quizzes, and photographs—will delight any GWTW fan and make this the one book that no “Windie” can do without.

“An outstanding read for anyone interested in the Civil War and Gettysburg in particular . . . innovative and thoughtful ideas on seemingly well-covered events.” —The NYMAS Review The largest land battle on the North American continent has maintained an unshakable grip on the American imagination. Building on momentum from a string of victories that stretched back into the summer of 1862, Robert E. Lee launched his Confederate Army of Northern Virginia on an invasion of the North meant to shake Union resolve and fundamentally shift the dynamic of the war. His counterpart with the Federal Army of the Potomac, George Meade, elevated to command just days before the fighting, found himself defending his home state in a high-stakes battle that could have put Confederates at the very gates of the nation’s capital. The public historians writing for the popular Emerging Civil War blog, speaking on its podcast, or delivering talks at the annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge in Virginia always present their work in ways that engage and animate audiences. Their efforts entertain, challenge, and sometimes provoke readers with fresh perspectives and insights born from years of working on battlefields, guiding tours, presenting talks, and writing for the wider Civil War community. The Summer of ’63: Gettysburg is a compilation of some of their favorites, anthologized, revised, and updated, together with several original pieces. Each entry includes original and helpful illustrations. Along with its companion volume The Summer of ’63: Vicksburg and Tullahoma, this important study contextualizes the major 1863 campaigns in what was arguably the Civil War’s turning-point summer.