Margaret Mitchell

Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (November 8 1900 - August 16 1949) was the American author who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937 for her immensely successful novel, Gone with the Wind, that was published in 1936. The novel is one of the most popular books of all time, selling more copies than any other hard-cover book, apart from the Bible, and is reputed to be still selling at 200,000 copies a year. An American film adaptation, released in 1939, became the highest-grossing film in the history of Hollywood, and received a record-breaking number of Academy Awards.

Death

Mitchell was struck by a speeding taxi as she crossed Peachtree Street at 13th Street with her husband, John Marsh, in August, 1949. She died at Grady Hospital, five days later from her injuries. The taxi driver, who was reported to be drunk, was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter, and received forty years' hard labor. His conviction, however, is still the subject of controversy, as witnesses said Mitchell stepped into the street without looking, and her friends claimed that it was a behavior that she often displayed.

Related Topics:
Taxi - Peachtree Street - Grady Hospital - Manslaughter

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Mitchell was 48. She was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta.

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