Margaret Mitchell & John Marsh: The Love Story Behind Gone With the Wind [Hardcover]

Marianne Walker (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1561450820 | ISBN-13: 978-1561450824 | Publication Date: October 1993

In telling the private story of the remarkable 24-year marriage of Mitchell and Marsh, Walker has used hundreds of the couple's previously unpublished letters and has conducted interviews with many relatives, friends, and co-workers of the couple. 60 photos.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949), author of Gone With the Wind , jilted her kind, protective suitor, John Marsh, and instead married Red Upshaw, an unstable bootlegger who physically abused her. Even after she divorced Upshaw, Mitchell, according to Walker, was a confused romantic who in many ways resembled her heroine, Scarlett O'Hara. A "classic demanding-dependent personality," Mitchell found more than a supportive fatherly mate in public relations executive Marsh, whom she finally married in 1925. Walker, a professor of English and philosophy at the University of Kentucky-Henderson Community College, reveals that Marsh played a vital role in the creation of Mitchell's classic Civil War saga. He offered key ideas and advice, continuously edited the manuscript as his wife wrote it, and helped with the revision. Walker quotes liberally from the couple's letters and also draws on interviews, family papers and archival research to tell a moving love story of a symbiotic union that lasted 24 years. A remarkable piece of detective work. Photos. 25,000 first printing; author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Through her exclusive access to over 200 of Mitchell's and Marsh's personal letters and a close association with some surviving members of their family, Walker succeeds in presenting a fresh, exciting account of the complex, intertwined aspects of the lives of this celebrated writer and her less well known spouse. GWTW was Mitchell's great singular achievement, and the uncertain extent to which Marsh may have written as well as edited the celebrated novel might easily be viewed in today's terminology as being dramatically "codependent." But Walker brings an intriguing perspective to the personal and professional interplay during their long marriage, revealing Marsh's doting attachment to his wife and, in turn, her reliance upon him in all aspects of her life and work. This appealing portrait of a marriage is certain to generate interest among Mitchell's legions of fans. Alice Joyce

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 554 pages
• Publisher: Peachtree Pub Ltd (October 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561450820
• ISBN-13: 978-1561450824
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.8 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #541,833 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Marianne Walker, a native of Monroe, Louisiana, is a retired professor of English and Philosophy at Henderson (Kentucky) Community College. Walker is the author of "Margaret Mitchell and John Marsh: The Love Story Behind Gone With the Wind" and "When Cuba Conquered Kentucky. She has written for the New York Times and The Louisville-Courier-Journal Sunday Magazine. Walker and her husband, Ulvester, live in Henderson, Kentucky.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for GWTW fans! This books is truly interesting., March 27, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Tennessee, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Margaret Mitchell & John Marsh: The Love Story Behind Gone With the Wind (Paperback)

I have been a GWTW fan since I was 12. This book is a must for GWTW fans and anyone else as well. This book gives us a peek into the writing process and what instant fame and forture can do to a person. It also tells us of interesting facts about Margaret Mitchell, her husband John, and their families. This story is told partially through letters saved by friends and families. A wonderful insight to that era of GWTW's initial popularity.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Margaret Mitchell Love Story, July 17, 2000

By 

Maryella Fox (Terre Haute, IN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Margaret Mitchell & John Marsh: The Love Story Behind Gone With the Wind (Paperback)

I felt that Margaret Mitchell's family was part of my own, and hated to see the book end. Am reading it now for the second time. Would love to communicate with Marianne Walker, direct. Just finished reading Darden Asbury Pyron's SOUTHERN DAUGHTER and it has made me so MAD. There are so many contradictions in it with the Walker version and I choose to believe Marianne! As you can see, I am a devoted Margaret Mitchell fan and have tried to read every thing I could throughout the years. I look forward to learning if Marianne Walker is available to the "general" public, like me.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Joy to Read, September 28, 2010

By 

Knowledge Contagion (California - again) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Margaret Mitchell and John Marsh: The Love Story Behind Gone With the Wind (Hardcover)

I had tried reading "Southern Daughter" numerous times and could never get very far. So I was stoked when I found out about this biography. Less than 100 pages in, I finally got rid of "SD" and kept on reading. It is amazing that this book was inspired by Marianne Walker's being asked to give a lecture on a book she had never read. When she read the dedication page (To J. R. M.), she went in search of more information on this J. R. M. and this book is the result.

This love story is truly amazing and one that I'm sure many people would envy. I was a little surprised at how unsympathetic Margaret (Peggy) was. They really were a perfectly matched pair: Peggy was the type of girl/woman who needed to be taken care of and supported while John was the type who took care of other people. It would appear that he never resented the many "illnesses" Peggy came down with nor did he seem to mind working long hours to support them when a second income was very needed.

I didn't know much about Margaret Mitchell before I read this book, so I was quite surprised at how like Scarlett she was. I had some idea the amount of research that went into the writing and publishing of the book and the resulting headaches from foreign copyrights after reading Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind Letters, 1936-1949. [Subtitle]: Edited by Richard Harwell (which was a Fabulous read! Many of the letters written by Peggy that were included in the biography made it into this book of letters. [I wrote a review if anyone's interested]), but if I wasn't taking pain medication for my ankle, I would have gotten a headache reading about all of the problems they had dealing with other countries wanting to steal her book. It is also amazing the extent of the intrusion that was inflicted upon them once the book was published. I found myself getting angry as I read about the gall of some people. Being a private person myself, I felt for John and Peggy as they were bombarded at literally all hours of the night and day with phone calls, visitors (mostly strangers), interview requests, etc.

I loved that this book drew upon countless letters written by Peggy, John Marsh, family members, friends, and people who had anything to do with publishing the book and making the movie. It is amazing the amount of work John put into "GWTW" - not only editing, but researching; he looked over contracts, dealt with business correspondence, did the lion's share of the copyright mess, and took care of Peggy. He wanted to make sure Peggy wouldn't be bothered by any of the problems he took upon himself to resolve.

This book is basically a love story ... It just happens to involve the author of "Gone With The Wind" and her husband.