Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind" Letters, 1936-1949

The phenomenal success of "Gone with the Wind" changed the history of publishing and moviemaking. It also changed Margaret Mitchell's existence.

"Alas," the Atlanta journalist wrote to screenwriter Sidney Howard in 1937, "where has my quiet peaceful life gone?" Margaret Mitchell was a born storyteller and these 300 or so letters - culled from over 50,000 items in her papers at the University of Georgia - are filled with warmth, humanity, and lively sense of humor of a very private woman who tried desperately not to be lionized.