Gone With the Wind by Mitchell, Margaret - 1936

New York: The Macmillan Co., 1936 First edition, first printing, with "May, 1936" to copyright page. Publisher's gray cloth, stamped in teal to front board and spine. A near fine copy with a touch of rubbing to extremities, small closed tears to the center of each spine end, light toning to page edges; lacking the original dust jacket. Overall, a beautiful copy. Gone with the Wind won Margaret Mitchell both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Perhaps best described as a work of historical fiction, Gone with the Wind also has many of the trappings of a traditional bildungsroman and romance novel, although critics argue that it does not fully fall under the category of either genre. The novel tells of archetypal Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara as she grows from a young woman into maturity against the backdrop of the American Civil War. Like many of the early 20th century Southern writers, Mitchell portrays an idyllic image of the antebellum South. While it can be legitimately criticized for its insensitivity to the treatment of African Americans who were enslaved, Mitchell's novel demonstrates how the South was decimated by the Civil War and continued to suffer under the Northern-sanctioned Restoration. It is also the basis of the 1939 Academy Award-winning movie, the conflicted love story of rebellious Scarlett and Rhett Butler remains an American classic.. First Edition.. Hard Cover. Near Fine.