Media Groups Support Banned ‘Wind’ Parody

A group of major media companies and software giant Microsoft Corp. have filed separate legal briefs supporting Houghton Mifflin’s efforts to publish a parody of the epic Civil War novel “Gone With the Wind,” the book publisher said.

Houghton Mifflin said in a statement that the companies filed friend-of-the-court briefs with the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, which is set to hear an appeal May 25 of an injunction blocking publication of “The Wind Done Gone,” a book by Alice Randall.

“The Wind Done Gone” depicts 19th century plantation life from an African American viewpoint. It is narrated by a mixed-race plantation owner’s daughter portrayed as “Gone With the Wind” protagonist Scarlett O’Hara’s half-sister.