The Story behind GWTW

After I finished reading Gone With The Wind and was waiting a few days to start watching the movie, I came across a speech on YouTube by author Ellen F. Brown [17:28 m:s]. She talks about the extensive research to write this book about how GWTW became a book, then a movie and all the business that went along with it.

Cover of the book's dust jacket.

So I went to the library on Monday December 16th and found Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind: A Bestseller's Odyssey from Atlanta to Hollywood. It grabbed me right away and looked forward reading it every day until I finished it today.

Excerpts from the book's dust jacket:

Granted unprecedented access to GWTW records and correspondence, Ellen F. Brown and John Wiley, Jr., examine how a disorganized and incomplete manuscript by an unknown Southern writer was discovered by a major New York publisher and became one of the most popular, profitable, and controversial novels in literary history.

This entertaining and informative account traces Gone With The Wind from its origins in the Civil Ware-era experiences of Mitchell's relatives through its status today as a pop culture icon that still generates impressive profits for her estate. At the core of the story is Mitchell's struggle to capture on paper the sights, sounds, and smells of antebellum Georgia and how she dealt with her book's stunning success

Mitchell had no affinity for the celebrity status or legal complexities associated with being a bestselling author, but accepted them with resignation and went on to build an international publishing empire amidst the Great Depression and World War II.

The book was published in 2011 by Taylor Trade Publishing (printed in Canada). The book has 379 numbered pages along with ix front pages. The actual text covers 327 pages and is divided into 18 chapters plus an Introduction and Epilogue. There are also 54 images in the center of the book on unnumbered pages.

As I mentioned above, I was enthralled with the book. In some respects it reminded me of the old book about the Beatles' business venture Apple: The Longest Cocktail Party.

Along with this book I have been watching the movie and listening to the commentary track. That will be another blog post.

All in all, this book gave me an increased appreciation for how GWTW was written and published and the tremendous amount of effort involved PLUS the associated intricate business aspects.

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Links:
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2019/12/finished-gwtw-but.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttSByd94Sfg
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781589795273/Margaret-Mitchell's-Gone-With-the-Wind-A-Bestseller's-Odyssey-from-Atlanta-to-Hollywood
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Longest_Cocktail_Party
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Written Wednesday January 1, 2020.