Margaret Mitchell was born in Atlanta, Georgia into a family passionately interested in American history.

She grew up in an atmosphere of stories about the Civil War which she committed to paper in the ten years following her marriage in 1925. The result was Gone With The Wind, first published in 1936. It won the Pulitzer Prize, sold over ten million copies, was translated in eighteen languages, and was one of the most successful films ever made starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable.

Gone With The Wind was her only published work. She died in 1949.