IT’S COME TO THIS: Gone With the Wind Publisher Slaps 2022 Editions With ‘Trigger Warning.’

HBO pulled the movie adaptation of the Civil War movie in 2020 after the death of George Floyd.

The Telegraph published the warning in the book:

“Gone with the Wind is a novel which includes problematic elements including the romanticisation of a shocking era in our history and the horrors of slavery.

“The novel includes the representation of unacceptable practices, racist and stereotypical depictions and troubling themes, characterisation, language and imagery.

“The text of this book remains true to the original in every way and is reflective of the language and period in which it was originally written.

“We want to alert readers that there may be hurtful or indeed harmful phrases and terminology that were prevalent at the time this novel was written and which are true to the context of the historical setting of this novel.

“Pan Macmillan believes changing the text to reflect today’s world would undermine the authenticity of the original, so has chosen to leave the text in its entirety.

“This does not, however, constitute an endorsement of the characterisation, content or language used.”

To be fair though, the publisher adding a trigger warning preamble is definitely the lesser of two evils, compared to having “sensitivity readers” going full Winston Smith on dead authors.