TBT Gone With The Wind

I know, I know but let me just say this about that.  It is a GREAT read.  I was 15 when I read it and it was the first time that I realized that the Civil War (and subsequently all war) has more than one point of view.  It forced me to think about opposing views to a same subject.

The southern voice was fascinating to me.  The genteel way of life was mesmerizing.  I hadn't, until I read "Gone With The Wind," realized that the southerners were fighting for a way of life, that certainly included slavery but was also more than that.  It was very reminiscent of "Regency" England.  It was a battle for all things proper, and orderly and refined, as they saw it.  Of course all of that was afforded on the backs of slaves.

Was it elitist?  Of course.  Did the country need to change?  Without a doubt!  Was the treatment of fellow human beings abhorant?  Absolutely!  Yet the part I found fascinating was the realization that there were people who believed strongly, and correctly, that if the South fell it would be the end of a regal era, as they knew it.

The movie was magical, but the book was an epic, grand, larger than life experience that you should revisit.  So Fiddle-dee-dee, don't think about this tomorrow, just read or re-read it today!