Para pengkritik dan ahli sejarah menganggap buku ini sebagai mempunyai komitmen ideologi yang kuat terhadap perjuangan Negeri-negeri Gabungan Amerika, serta pandangan romantik terhadap budaya Selatan sebelum Perang Saudara Amerika. Buku ini juga memberi pemerihalan yang jelas terhadap kejatuhan Atlanta pada tahun 1864 serta pemusnahan perang (sesetengahya tidak terdapat dalam filem 1939), dan menunjukkan penyelidikan sejarah yang mendalam. Bagaimanapun, hampir kesemua sumber Mitchell adalah daripada para penulis dan ahli sejarah Selatan. Naratif Mitchell yang meluas tentang perang dan kerugian membantu buku ini memenangi Hadiah Pulitzer pada 3 Mei 1937.

Satu episod dalam buku ini membincangkan Ku Klux Klan pada masa awalnya: in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, Scarlett is assaulted by recently-emancipated Blacks, whereupon her male friends make a retaliatory night-time raid on the Blacks' encampment. This raid is presented sympathetically as being necessary and justified, while the law-enforcement officers trying to catch the perpetrators are depicted as oppressive Northern occupiers.

Although the Klan is not mentioned in that scene, Scarlett later learns that Ashley Wilkes and others who were involved in the raid are members of the Klan. Many such local anti-Black vigilante groups did eventually join the Klan in the late 1860s, as Mitchell must have been aware from her historical research. However, it is mentioned that Scarlett finds the Klan abominable and believes the men should all just stay at home (though this is motivated mostly by a selfish desire to both be petted for her ordeal and to give the hated Yankees no more reason to tighten martial law, which is bad for her businesses). Rhett is also mentioned to be no great lover of the Klan, though he says at one point that if it is necessary he will join in an effort to integrate well into society. The novel never explicitly states whether or not this drastic step was necessary in his view. The local chapter later breaks up under the pressure from Rhett and Ashley.