Rhett Butler’s People – Book Review

This is my first ever book review! I will confess that my love of books and respect for anyone who is willing and able to put in the hard work and effort to write a book may indeed make it difficult to be negative about anything I read. I will, however, do my best to be honest and compassionate.

Rhett Butler’s People is written by Donald McCaig with the blessing of the Margaret Mitchell Foundation. Mr. McCaig had a great and difficult task. It was his responsibility to retell Gone With the Wind from Rhett Butler’s perspective. Even more harrowing was writing this epic love story against the back drop of the Civil War and Reconstruction. The reader will see and feel the destruction of the War and the heartache and difficulty in rebuilding and moving forward. Wealthy cities, families, and individuals will see their world destroyed and their wealth gone. It is interesting to see how different people deal with their loss and grief. As these characters and their families rebuild and struggle to move forward and find forgiveness, so does our great country. Against this backdrop we find the love story of Rhett and Scarlett. I suspect most of the people reading this book will be familar with Gone With the Wind. We know these characters and either adore or hate them. At the end of Gone With the Wind, Scarlett O’Hara Butler was just beginning to realize her love for Rhett. In many ways she was just beginning to see him through the eyes of a woman. In Rhett Butler’s People we see the renegade cad in a much different light. I found a boy and a man seeking to discover right and wrong and struggling to not only define his beliefs but also to live them honestly. Within this was the desire to find one soul who understood and could love without condition. Sound familar to anyone? Reading this novel will also introduce you to Rhett’s family and friends. The reader will come to know the people and experiences that influenced Rhett Butler. While this was a great book, it was in many ways something of a history book. It was a little slow at times and I felt the ending was a bit longer than needed, but it was still a very good book and I do recommend reading it.