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7 reasons we still give a damn about "Gone With the Wind"

Seventy-five years ago this month, a novel by an unknown young journalist from Atlanta was published. Originally submitted as a manuscript stuffed into dozens of manila folders, the book was a love story set against the backdrop of the US Civil War. Today, Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind” remains one of the bestselling books of all time. It has been translated into 35 languages, sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide, won a Pulitzer Prize, and earned eight Academy Awards as a Hollywood motion picture. Here are some of the many reasons we still love "GWTW."

1. Scarlett O'Hara is irresistible.

  • By Husna Haq, Monitor correspondent

It’s one of the great “what ifs” of literary history: What if the great Civil War classic had been called “Manuscript of the Old South,” as it was originally titled, and its heroine named Pansy? We may not be blogging about a very important 75th anniversary had better sense not prevailed. Fortunately, the book was retitled and Pansy became Scarlett. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet? Maybe, but perhaps not a Pansy.

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