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In the 64 years since, Gone With The Wind went on sale in 1936, it has sold in excess of 80 million copies. And the popularity has hardly abated with the book still selling 300,000 copies annually. It's only formidable competitor being the Bible.
Its creator, author, Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949) whose life has spurned as many legendary tales and the book and the movie. In 1896 to coincide with the severe economic depression May Belle nee Stephens and Eugene Mitchell produced a healthy baby son, Alexander Stephens, four years later in 1900 the couple had a final child, Margaret Munnerlyn. Peggy as was known to her family and friends grew up in a big house at 179 Jackson Street. A modest dwelling located in the fashionable suburb of North Atlanta dominated by Southern Victorian architecture - totally unlike the Tara mansion. While her brother read, 3 year-old, Margaret played with her cat. Too near the fireplace's open grate, her shirt caught fire . Her screams brought Stephens flying. He beat out the flames with difficulty, but neither child was hurt. Once over the chock of the charred petticoat her children's tears, May Belle Mitchell had a characteristically unconventional response. All Margaret's pretty dresses were put away except for special occasions. From that time until she started school Margaret dressed in boy's pants and shirts. Dressed as a boy she acquired a male identity and name, Jimmy. She was small and exquisite and boy's clothes suited her fine. Her Jimmy persona provided the perfect field for the childlike energies. The costume and her mother's response together with was to have a biographical impact that would last a lifetime. When she was five she lived through one of the most violent race riots in regional history. White beserkers controlled Atlanta for three days at the disorder's height. The heavily black east side spawned some of the worst troubles as white gangs roamed the city searching for victims. Although from a small immediate family, Margaret's extended family numbers in the hundreds and they knew each other as real people and made space for them in their daily lives. Peggy knew were she belonged in the scheme of things and was caught-up in the spirit of this broad notion of community and kinship. Southern cultural flourished in oral knowledge. With a high illiteracy rate, word of mouth was the standard means of communication. This oral presentations was permeated with nuisances and alliterations that formed the natural rhythms unique to the Southern accent. Tales and stories remained rich narratives. Simple facts were embedded in elaborate dialogue.
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