On the page and on the screen, works like Gone With the Wind have captured the imaginations of millions with their depictions of genteel plantation life in the antebellum South. Now author Robin Spencer Lattimore takes readers into the real stories of culture, race, politics, and family behind these remnants of a past that has had such impact on the South and on America as a whole-and into the story of their preservation. A rich visual journey through several of the region's most historic homes and the lush, fertile lands that once surrounded them, this book also measures a splendid architectural legacy against the cruel realities that made it possible. Southern Plantations features numerous examples that have survived the ravages of time, tragedy, neglect, and decay and can still be explored today, opening a window to the past and showing us that it is not too late to understand the heritage that these estates represent.