Gone with the Wind

By: Margaret Mitchell

Narrated by: Linda Stephens

Length: 49 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, Margaret Mitchell's great novel of the South is one of the most popular books ever written. Within six months of its publication in 1936, Gone With the Wind had sold a million copies. To date, it has been translated into 25 languages, and more than 28 million copies have been sold.

Here are the characters that have become symbols of passion and desire: darkly handsome Rhett Butler and flirtatious Scarlett O'Hara. Behind them stand their gentler counterparts: Ashley Wilkes and Melanie Hamilton. As the lives and affairs of these absorbing characters play out against the tumult of the Civil War, Gone With the Wind reaches dramatic heights that have swept generations of fans off their feet.

Having lived in Atlanta for many years, narrator Linda Stephens has an authentic ear for the dialects of that region. Get ready to hear Gone With the Wind exactly as it was written: every word beautifully captured in a spectacular unabridged audio production.

©1964 Stephens Mitchell (P)2001 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Beyond a doubt one of the most remarkable first novels produced by an American writer. It is also one of the best." ( The New York Times)
"The best novel to have ever come out of the South...it is unsurpassed in the whole of American writing." ( The Washington Post)

Most amazing audible experience

The story is a product of its time. Of course it’s racist because that’s what people thought at that time. The harshness is factual and it is something to learn from about life in that time. It’s incredibly well written and the narrator is truly amazing. People should not read it if they get offended easily.

Favorite movie

And now favorite book. Gives insight into life as it was during that time. Better explains the infatuation with Ashley and not the one-sided version from the movie. Excellent writing as loved the reader. Excellent choice for anyone willing to commit to it. So sad that it ended.

Wow

Beautifully written! Beautifully narrated! Will get the hard copy and read again. The movie followed it surprisingly close!

Excellent

Superb narration! Obviously, the novel is a classic, and a necessary read. The narration and performance really bring character to the audiobook.

smooth listening voice

loved it! have only seen the movie but was captivated by the book and narrator. highly suggests.

I loved it! Worth every minute!

I’m a huge fan of the movie that I thought I should read the book. I loved every minute of it. The narrator did such a wonderful job!

The talent to portrait so many different characters and capture their personalities. Talented reader!!

The only downfall was my inability to pause this book, once I started it I just couldn't stop listening!! way better than reading it myself!!

The narrator was fantastic.

Love this story. Not much more I can say from what others have reviewed. I have always enjoyed the story but the narrator really made it come alive.

Linda Stephens is a masterful narrator

Copied from Goodreads:

Was Margaret Mitchell a racist? I don't know. Her book certainly is. Reading her biography on Wikipedia, one can see where she got a lot of her material. I know toward the end of her life she helped several Black medical students get their degrees so they could come to Georgia to practice medicine and change the state in a better way. However, she was soaked in the Southern "Lost Cause" from her relatives. And, my goodness, she was a gifted writer. She was able to channel all those harsh emotions of the conquered in her characters.

Character development is one of the things I loved about this book. You get to know and either love or hate the main characters. From the spoiled, selfish Scarlett, to the unyielding, lovely Melanie (still racist, though) you can't help but wish all of them were given the chance to be truly happy. One of my recurring thoughts throughout this book was Scarlett's PTSD. Put aside, for a moment, that she is one of the biggest brats of all literature. What she saw and had to live through would stunt anyone's emotional maturity. Having to starve and scrape certainly harmed her. Losing her mother was an event she never recovered from. But, then again, compare and contrast that with Melanie's way of doing things, and you have a very interesting psychological discussion.

I loved the movie when I was a child. In my early 20s, I read the book for the first time. I was just as enamored with the book as I was with the movie. So, twenty-odd years later I wanted to pick it up and read it again. I was shocked! The blatant racist tropes and love of slavery are disgusting. Read Alex's review for perfect examples that should make anyone shudder. It makes me wonder what the heck happened in the last twenty years to allow me to understand this better so it became a central part of the reading of the book. Because it's throughout the book. Back to my first question, was this Margaret Mitchell's real opinion, or was she a master at channeling all her upbringing into one epic narrative? I listened to this on Audible. It was read by the talented Linda Stephens. I started it with my 12-year-old listening along with me. I quickly realized I didn't want her to be listening to this because I didn't want her to internalize this viewpoint of the "darkies" and "n-----s". The movie certainly sanitized the language. But it's there in all its ugliness on the page.

Love it or hate it, Gone With the Wind has influenced millions of people. Of all the things I'm taking away from this, I feel like I have a better understanding of how the Southerners felt after they lost the Civil War. Some people have still not gotten over it. The white supremacy that is so often in the news can be traced straight back to these former slaveholders' bitter contempt for losing their way of life. The stories of former days and glorification of Confederate generals have been passed down through the generations. I don't believe we can begin to help people until we understand a bit about them. We can still heartily disagree. I, for sure, do.

I know I romanticized Scarlett in my little girl's mind. Thank you, Hollywood. Now I realize she and the other big names in the story - Rhett, Melanie, Mammy, Ashley - can be seen throughout our society as well. I don't feel like this was a wasted read, even though I was sickened by some of the attitudes and events. Read it with your eyes wide open.

Love the Story, Not the Reader

Wonderful story with lots of historical references that take the reader back more than 150 years ago.