Atlanta Pop Culture

There's no getting around it: When it comes to Atlanta’s pull on the collective imagination, even after 75 years, no work is in the same league as the Civil War epic Gone With the Wind. Read Margaret Mitchell’s original Pulitzer Prize winning book, or watch the classic 1939 film, and see how Scarlett and crew persevere after those damned Yankees burn the city to the ground. For more modern literary takes on Atlanta, check out the Tom Wolfe social satire A Man in Full, or the romantic Peachtree Road or Downtown by Anne Rivers Siddons. In terms of films, Driving Miss Daisy is a glimpse into segregated post-World War II Atlanta, while Beauty Shop shows a modern and thriving integrated Atlanta. Musically, Atlanta has long been the source of famed acts in a wide variety of genres, from Jerry Reed to the Indigo Girls to the Black Crowes to TLC to Usher to Andre 3000 to Ciara—and even the recently transplanted Justin Bieber. To really get you in the heading-to-Atlanta mood, pack your i-device with at least these essentials: Gladys Knight & the Pips' "Midnight Train To Georgia," John Mayer's "Why Georgia," and "Welcome to Atlanta" by Jermaine Dupri featuring Ludacris. If you’re in the mood for throwbacks, add on a little of Brother Ray Charles singing “Georgia On My Mind.”