Rating: 
Summary: Deeply offensive on almost every level
Review: First, the obvious. This book is racist to the core. And spare me the "it represents the views of white people of the time" refrain. This book represents the views of people who were extremists even then. The real Confederacy was tightly controlled by about 1,600 wealthy planters, who cared as little for the lives of the poor white southerners they used as cannon fodder as they did for the black slaves they overworked, whipped and raped. Most white southerners of the 1860s did not own slaves, but were conscripted and their small farms robbed to fight the war to defend the wealthy slaveowners. The book's withering contempt of "poor whites" and "Crackers" wasn't shared by the majority of white Southerners of the 1860s who WERE poor whites and Crackers. Slaves well treated. Upper-class aristocrats fighting in the field. Freed slaves going on a rape rampage. The Ku Klux Klan as a defender of helpless women. Lies, all lies passed down by the Southern aristocracy from one generation to the next, used to oppress the common person, both black and white. This books recycles these old myths, gives them energy, trying to pit poor whites against poor blacks, dividing ordinary folk to preserve the privileges of a select few. Equally offensive to a modern reader are the book's views on gender. Apparently most men are sheep who can be made to fall in love at a pretty girl's whim, then have their hearts broken like twigs. Intellectual, empathic, or caring qualities in men like Charles, Ashley, or Frank are given only contempt and disdain. What's admired is Rhett, who consorts with prostitutes, rapes his wife, and engages in food speculation while poor people go hungry. Oh but he's sooo dashing and handsome, sweeping little woman Scarlett off her feet. These characters could have come out of a Harlequin formula. Scarlett herself breaks men's hearts like dogs, has only contempt for intellect, gets wealthy by using convicts like slaves, emotionally abuses her children, and shows an utter, despicable shallowness of personality and emotion. Her only apparent regret at the end is she should have had MORE loyalty to the old planter class, MORE subservience to her husband etc. This book teaches only that women should be subservient to men, black people slaves of white people, and poor people under the thumb of the rich. It is reactionary in the deepest sense of the word and deserves to be forgotten as the extremist propaganda it is.
Rating: 
Summary: Best dogawn book I ever read!!
Review: This book had everything I like to read about in it. From the vivacious Scarlett, to the loyal Melanie, to the blatant Rhett, the soft Ashley, and all the others, this book has it all. It includes comedy, tragedy, history, emotion, and many other things. My favorite character was Melanie. Scarlett drove me nuts. You get so pulled into the book that I actually stopped reading for a while because Scarlett was eing so mean to Melanie!! Definately a must read in the life of a true gentleperson.
Rating: 
Summary: An engrossing and addictive read
Review: It's hard to believe that I'd never read GWTW. I've seen the film multiple times and I know a bit about the history of the novel. _Gone With the Wind_ sold more than 1,000,000 copies in the six months after it was released in 1936, and a year later Mitchell was awarded the Pulitzer prize for her effort. It's certainly one of the best-loved books of our century, with fans ranging from feminists who are trying to reclaim Scarlett to groups like the United Daughters of the Confederacy. So when I picked up the book, my biggest question was whether or not it was worth so much fuss and adoration. I suppose that my answer has to be 'yes'. Mitchell's writing style is occasionally uneven and it took me 50 pages to get used to her diction, but the story is so sweeping and the characters so well-realized that all concerns about style and tone were lost in the experience of the book. In many ways, I found the book a much stronger story than emerges in the film. Unhampered by censorship, the world that Scarlett moves in in the book is much uglier than the one in the film-- painful miscarriages, brothels, wounds and poverty fill Mitchell's picture of the post-war south and make Scarlett's character much stronger and much less petulant than she emerges in the film. Although daunting in length, I found that the pages literally flew by, and I was sorry in the end when the story closed. Definitely a 'should read'.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite book of all time!
Review: For all of you that have read GWTW you must know why this is my favorite book ever! I am 15 and I read this book around a month ago after a friend of mine told me I just had to read it and I could not put it down. My Mom encouraged me too as she loved it also. Now I know what everyone is raving about. This saga simply swept me off my feet! This isn't just a novel for young girls...it's for everyone and you just have to read it. I was captivated by Mitchell's breathtaking descriptions of the south and how can any female just not fall in love with Rhett? It's almost impossible to describe to you all the aspects of this novel! I went through this book so fast...at times I laughed but there were also times when you ge so annoyed, frusturated and angry at Scarlett's antics (forget about Ashley already!) but you cannot help loving her for who she is too. Though GWTW may not be 100% historically accurate...who really cares!? Also, I just saw the movie...don't miss it!! That was just wonderful as well. (it was also voted the #2 Romance movie of all time by the Amerian Film Institute recently!) As for the sequel, Scarlett, I was a little dissapointed but I had to have closure and have the comfort of knowing Rhett took Scarlett back. All in all, read Gone With the Wind! This monumental epic has all the aspects of a book anyone could ever look for.
Rating:
Summary: Blew Me Away!
Review: "Gone With the Wind" is one of those impossible-to-put-down sagas that everyone should read. It is a perfect read in the summer-nearly 1000 pages to keep you reading throughout those long, lazy days. "Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it"...from the first lines of the book we are enchanted. And the passionate, emotional story of Scarlett O'Hara is the story of a how a war changed Scarlett's life, the story of how a pampered Southern belle became a woman changed by terrible circumstances. It is a love story, a story of one person, and story of Civil War-era South.
There are a couple of key things that make this book the classic that it is. First, Margaret Mitchell really is one of those "born" storytellers. She is wonderful with description, and makes us "feel" things, yet seems to know exactly how much description is too much or too little. She effortlessly creates a seamless story taking place over many years, with never a dull moment on any one of the 954 pages. That alone is enough to make a novel "stand out".
"Gone With the Wind" is also filled with vibrant characters. Margaret Mitchell's effective descriptions and keen insights into the minds of each character make this book even better. There is Scarlett, whose stubborn streak, determined mind, and desperate love we see and identify with; there is Melanie, sweet, trusting, and fiercely loyal (she happens to be my favorite character); there is Rhett, the puzzling, reckless, and mysterious blockader who is much like Scarlett; and there is Ashley, the one love that Scarlett cannot have.
The only thing about this book that ISN'T absolutely perfect is the racism. Like many Southerners at that time, Margaret Mitchell had a very biased opinion of black people and their place in society. It was disturbing to read descriptions such as "their monkey-like faces" and "darkies need to be treated like children" in this book. However, I think this was in the book because that was how it WAS in the South then, not necessarily because the author thought it SHOULD BE that way. Racism is certainly wrong, but that was a part of the Southern way of life before, during, and after the Civil War.
"Gone With the Wind" is a wonderfully captivating book filled with characters that we can all identify with. Read it and you'll certainly see why this book, first published in 1936, is still popular today.
Rating: 
Summary: Book
Review: I really liked this book. I'm a very very fast reader, and I read it in about one and a half hours. I really liked this book. It is a very nice story about the Civil War from a southerners point of view. You don't see very many books like that. I especially liked the part where they have to work in the fields. It shows that the Confederates didn't like the treatment of slaves, but they didn't care about the slaves. I kind of liked this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Book!
Review: This book was wonderful. I love reading about the south and the Civil War era is a wonderful back drop for the story of the spoiled southern belle Scarlett, and the dashing Rhett. I personally feel that this book is the mother of historical romance and will last the test of time. I read this book the first time when I was 12 or 13 and re-read it again as an adult. My memory of this story was not altered by the length of time between these reads. Better then the movie and wonderfully descriptive with real characters that grow as a result of their experiences you will not be disappointed with this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great historical romance
Review: Scarlett O'Hara might have the smallest waist around but she does not Ashley Wilkes. He is apparently the only eligible young man on the plantations neighboring Tara who does not want to be Scarlett's beau. When Ashley's engagement is announced to Melanie Hamilton, Scarlett impulsively accepts the proposal of Melanie's brother Charles and the two couples are married just as the Civil War breaks out. Scarlett pays for her reckless decision when she suddenly finds herself a widow with a baby. Still in love with the happily married Ashley, Scarlett's attentions are diverted somewhat by Rhett Butler, the dashing blockage runner who takes a fancy to her high spirits. However, it seems that Scarlet is destined never to marry for love, seeing it instead as a means of securing her future as a prosperous woman in the New South that rises from the ashes of the Confederacy. Meanwhile, despite his best intentions, Rhett finds that he has actually fallen in love with Scarlett, who continues to pine for Ashley. With a grim determination that polite society considers to be most un-lady like, Scarlet discovers she has everything she could ever want out of life, except for the man she loves. In Katie Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler author Margaret Mitchell has created the prototype of a character that has become increasingly more familiar in American culture, namely the aggressive woman who refuses to rely on any man to take care of her. This might be soap opera, but it is soap opera on a grand scale, with decidedly more opera than soap in the equation. Fans of historical romance will find this novel to be everything they would desire it to be. GONE WITH THE WIND is the only book Mitchell (real name Peggy Marsh) ever wrote, but it is certainly enough to secure her literary reputation. Scarlett O'Hara will never be forgotten.
Rating:
Summary: Not as enjoyable as the movie
Review: but it works, mainly because of Scarlett and Ashley, who are engaging if limited characters. Rhett Butler begins as interesting but is ultimately tiresome. Mammy is engaging, Prissy less so. The less said about Melanie and Ellen the better. Don't count on it as history lesson, either. Really, it's not much more than a well written bodice ripper (which explains why it has so many adolescent fans) but bodice rippers are often fun.
Rating:
Summary: Gone With the Wind
Review: Gone With the Wind is a classic novel of love and loss. Taking place in a time and place which is, quite literally, "gone with the wind," it is interesting in both a historical sense and a romantic one. This novel is often called "the greatest love story of all time," and truthfully at that. There is nothing quite as stirring as the interactions between Rhett and Scarlett. Margaret Mitchell's classic writing and understanding of times gone by makes this one of my (and the world's) ultimate favorites. At this point, this novel has reached so much fame that it is hardly necessary to discuss the plot, but for those uninformed out there, here it is: Scarlett O'Hara is the beautiful and headstrong eldest daughter of rich, high class plantation owners living just south of Atlanta during the antebellum period. Scarlett is the belle of the county - she has the smallest waist, the prettiest face, and the flirtiest personality. She could have any man, except the one she wants - Ashley Wilkes, who is already engaged to the frail but very sweet Melanie. When the Civil War breaks out everything changes. Scarlett marries, but is immediatly made a widow, and she moves to Atlanta to stay with Melanie. All the while Rhett Butler is lurking around. He's handsome, suave, and has a horrible reputation - hardly the kind of gentleman Scarlett was raised to like. But Scarlett, with her stubborn, headstrong attitude, brains, and independence is hardly a typical southern lady. As the war rages on, Scarlett's world is shattered and challenged. Wealth turns to poverty, pride to despair, admiration to dislike, and hate to love. Once started, this is a novel that cannot be put down. Many people read the whole thing (over 1,000 pages) in one very long sitting! That's what I did.
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