Gone with the Wind

Published in 1936, Gone With the Wind sold 50,000 copies on its first day, and two million after a year. Even though it is 1,037 pages long, readers all over the world snatched up the book; by 1937 it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the movie rights had been sold to David O. Selznick. Mitchell prided herself on the historical accuracy of her work, and—despite its melodramatic plot and somewhat two-dimensional supporting characters—Gone With the Wind is a sweeping account of how the Civil War tore apart an entire way of life, and Scarlett O'Hara is one of the most enduring characters in American fiction.