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11 reviews for:
Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind: A Bestseller's Odyssey from Atlanta to Hollywood
John Wiley, Ellen F. Brown
3.74 AVERAGE
11 reviews for:
Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind: A Bestseller's Odyssey from Atlanta to Hollywood
John Wiley, Ellen F. Brown
3.74 AVERAGE
This book is really for hard core Gone With the Wind fans. The book follows the work that went into protecting the privacy of the author and the rights of the book--Mitchell's husband John Marsh and (attorney) brother Stephens Mitchell worked tirelessly alongside the author. Margaret Mitchell's work (through use of agents in other countries) at protecting her copyright around the world proved something usefeul to look back over as Congress was working on the post Berne code U.S. copyright laws (post WWII).
I enjoyed the book.
I enjoyed the book.
I first saw this book in a bookstore in Connecticut last summer, and finally got around to picking it up a few weeks ago with some Christmas money. I've known the story of Gone With The Wind for all of my life, it seems like - I've seen the movie many times, don't even know how young I saw it for the first time, and I read the book when I was 12. However, apart from knowing that Margaret Mitchell was from Atlanta, I knew nothing about her or the story of how the novel was published.
This book follows the story of Margaret Mitchell and her only novel, Gone With The Wind of course, from its inception and writing through the the publication of authorized sequels decades after her death. Much of the book follows the publishing issues Mitchell and her husband dealt with for years, including copyright problems, poor representation in talks with Selznick and Hollywood for the movie rights, and so on. For example, when GWTW was published, the US was not part of an international copyright convention, and so a book published in the US did not automatically have international copyright unless it was simultaneously published in a country that was part of the Berne convention (usually Canada). Mitchell was very protective of her story, and spent most of the rest of her life dealing with GWTW and protecting her rights in multiple foreign countries despite little help from her original publishing house in the US. The deal she signed with Selznick for the movie rights was utterly ridiculous, and she was poorly represented by MacMillan despite their claims to want to protect her, and it wasn't until decades after her death that those issues were rectified. Overall, this is a fascinating look at what happened before the legal protections that authors enjoy today were in place, and is a key example of why you should always be careful to not let yourself be overwhelmed or forced to sign something you're not sure about.
The writing is well done, with my only complaint being the heavy-handed "foreshadowing" of what would happen if the US and Canada editions of GWTW were not published on the same date. Seriously, after the second comment about "what would happen," I was ready to skip four chapters ahead to just find out the details already. This oddity aside, however, I did think the book was interesting and presented the story well and clearly with quite a lot of documentation as well as some photos. I read the Kindle edition, and I wish that the translation into eBook format would move the photos to the chapters they reference, rather than just being a random block of photos in the middle of the novel. I realize why this happens in a print book, but it's jarring and out of place in an eBook.
If you're interested in writing or publishing your own work, this is an interesting tale that might help you avoid some of the mistakes that can be made even today. If you like the story of Gone With The Wind, you'll enjoy it even more. I very much liked the book and I'm glad that I read it.
This book follows the story of Margaret Mitchell and her only novel, Gone With The Wind of course, from its inception and writing through the the publication of authorized sequels decades after her death. Much of the book follows the publishing issues Mitchell and her husband dealt with for years, including copyright problems, poor representation in talks with Selznick and Hollywood for the movie rights, and so on. For example, when GWTW was published, the US was not part of an international copyright convention, and so a book published in the US did not automatically have international copyright unless it was simultaneously published in a country that was part of the Berne convention (usually Canada). Mitchell was very protective of her story, and spent most of the rest of her life dealing with GWTW and protecting her rights in multiple foreign countries despite little help from her original publishing house in the US. The deal she signed with Selznick for the movie rights was utterly ridiculous, and she was poorly represented by MacMillan despite their claims to want to protect her, and it wasn't until decades after her death that those issues were rectified. Overall, this is a fascinating look at what happened before the legal protections that authors enjoy today were in place, and is a key example of why you should always be careful to not let yourself be overwhelmed or forced to sign something you're not sure about.
The writing is well done, with my only complaint being the heavy-handed "foreshadowing" of what would happen if the US and Canada editions of GWTW were not published on the same date. Seriously, after the second comment about "what would happen," I was ready to skip four chapters ahead to just find out the details already. This oddity aside, however, I did think the book was interesting and presented the story well and clearly with quite a lot of documentation as well as some photos. I read the Kindle edition, and I wish that the translation into eBook format would move the photos to the chapters they reference, rather than just being a random block of photos in the middle of the novel. I realize why this happens in a print book, but it's jarring and out of place in an eBook.
If you're interested in writing or publishing your own work, this is an interesting tale that might help you avoid some of the mistakes that can be made even today. If you like the story of Gone With The Wind, you'll enjoy it even more. I very much liked the book and I'm glad that I read it.
I didn't actually finish reading this book to the end. It is excessively detailed. While it is interesting, it is not a fast read. While I love the book and the movie, I'm not a super geek fan that needs to know every detail about the process of creating Gone With the Wind. What I read was interesting and the author definitely did her homework.
This was fascinating...the first half or so read more like a novel. I struggled with the last bit, it did start to drag on and get a bit boring, but Margaret Mitchell was such a fascinating lady! She really had a great influence on the world of international publishing, seriously amazing.
This was a very interesting book, but I think the subtitle was slightly misleading. There was almost zero coverage of Mitchell writing the book (though her and Marsh's time spent editing is covered) and the journey to Hollywood seemed abbreviated (considering the title). A more extensive interpretation of Macmillan's marketing strategy, why the editors got behind her manuscript, and why such a niche novel became a bestseller were strangely absent.
This was mostly a business/legal history of the novel. There was a lot of discussion of copyright laws, character and sequel rights, foreign legal issues, royalty and film contracts, trusts, and the like. This was all very fascinating, but not what I was expecting at all. (And boy do I feel outraged on Margaret Mitchell's behalf, even 75 years after the fact - Macmillan sure treated her unfairly!)
I think that I would have loved this book with either a lot more content or a lot less. I think a better balance between the minimal human interest element and the exhaustive business/legal aspect would have made this very strong book into a phenomenal one. Still, it was a good read if not the read I expected.
I would definitely recommend this to any GWTW fan or anyone with an interest in the history of the publishing industry or literary law.
This was mostly a business/legal history of the novel. There was a lot of discussion of copyright laws, character and sequel rights, foreign legal issues, royalty and film contracts, trusts, and the like. This was all very fascinating, but not what I was expecting at all. (And boy do I feel outraged on Margaret Mitchell's behalf, even 75 years after the fact - Macmillan sure treated her unfairly!)
I think that I would have loved this book with either a lot more content or a lot less. I think a better balance between the minimal human interest element and the exhaustive business/legal aspect would have made this very strong book into a phenomenal one. Still, it was a good read if not the read I expected.
I would definitely recommend this to any GWTW fan or anyone with an interest in the history of the publishing industry or literary law.
Going into reading this book I knew virtually nil about Margaret Mitchell other than she wrote Gone With the Wind. Having just read Gone With the Wind last month, and loving it of course, this was a fabulous read to learn more about what it took to get the book published and the award winning movie made. The work that Mitchell put into her book is amazing and the fact that she stood by it even when it invaded her life, shows a lot about Mitchell's character. This biography of details Mitchell and all the people who worked hard on getting her novel published, making the movie an instant blockbuster and fighting off fame, fortune and copyright issues in a publishing world where copyright laws were nothing like they are today. I found this book to be a fabulous read and entertaining and learned so much about one of my favorite novels and movies. The research that went into this novel shows that the authors really spent a lot of time to make sure the facts were right and that they portrayed ll the major players as close to the truth. If you are a Gone with the Wind lover, whether it be the book or the movie, then I highly encourage you to read this book to learn so much more than appears on just the surface.
I must confess that as a teenager I was a GWTW freak. I read the family hardbound cover so many times that it fell apart. Friends bought me the slipcased Margaret Mitchell Anniversary Edition copy. So when I found out about this book that tells the back story of Margaret Mitchell's writing of the GWTW I was intrigued, and not disappointed.
The authors relay the story of the long and turbulent process of getting the book from draft form to publication. But what happened next - the incredible success of the book and how Mitchell handled the fame and the business quandaries that came along with that success that are really fascinating.
If you loved GWTW, or if you are just interested in a behind the scenes look at a publishing phenomenon that spanned much of the 20th century you would probably enjoy this book.
The authors relay the story of the long and turbulent process of getting the book from draft form to publication. But what happened next - the incredible success of the book and how Mitchell handled the fame and the business quandaries that came along with that success that are really fascinating.
If you loved GWTW, or if you are just interested in a behind the scenes look at a publishing phenomenon that spanned much of the 20th century you would probably enjoy this book.
Adolph. Seriously, how can anyone think that Hitler's name was spelled "Adolph"? And yet the author perpetuates the error twice. Entirely bizarre in a book devoted to the minutiae of publishing and selling one particular book.
Rant not quite over. It's Gone with the Wind. Small "w". Another bizarre error. Is the author trying to improve on Margaret Mitchell? And how many citations required her to make the change in capitalization without noting it? Or at least explaining in the notes why she made that editorial call?
OK, for all that, this was an entertaining read about stuff that's pretty dry on the face of it--the labor of getting a book into print and then overseeing all the copyright and other legal ramifications as it proves to be immortal. But I'm annoyed enough about the errors cited and other poor choices in the sometimes clunky text that I'm docking a star.
Rant not quite over. It's Gone with the Wind. Small "w". Another bizarre error. Is the author trying to improve on Margaret Mitchell? And how many citations required her to make the change in capitalization without noting it? Or at least explaining in the notes why she made that editorial call?
OK, for all that, this was an entertaining read about stuff that's pretty dry on the face of it--the labor of getting a book into print and then overseeing all the copyright and other legal ramifications as it proves to be immortal. But I'm annoyed enough about the errors cited and other poor choices in the sometimes clunky text that I'm docking a star.
Gone with the wind is probably my all-time favorite book. I admire Margaret Mitchell. That being said, this book was a huge disappointment. I guess I was hoping for more about Mitchell,the book, and the making of the movie and I got a lot of boring facts and figures about sales, copyrights, etc. So very dry and boring for me.
So far very interesting.....like it a lot!! If you want to know how hard it was for Peggy to write this book and how difficult her life became after this book was written and all of the facts of "Gone With the Wind" then you will like this book..