Recently I wanted to buy a hard copy of the story the Wizard of Oz, a well known classic from my youth. While doing some research on this story I learned some new and interesting things. One thing I learned this past week is that the ‘Wizard of Oz’ is only one book in a series of 15 books.
Here’s the whole list, including dates:
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) author L. Frank Baum
The Marvellous Land of Oz (1904) author L. Frank Baum
Ozma of Oz (1907) author L. Frank Baum
Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz (1908) author L. Frank Baum
The Road to Oz (1909) author L. Frank Baum
The Emerald City of Oz (1910) author L. Frank Baum
The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1913) author L. Frank Baum
Tik-Tok of Oz (1914) author L. Frank Baum
Rinkitink of Oz (1916) author L. Frank Baum
The Lost Princess of Oz (1917) author L. Frank Baum
The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918) author L. Frank Baum
The Magic of Oz (1919, posthumously published) author L. Frank Baum
Glinda of Oz(1920, posthumously published) author L. Frank Baum
The Royal Book of Oz (1921) author Ruth Plumly Thompson
Note: Posthumously published means published after the death of L. Frank Baum
Other Oz related works include:
Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz (1905, comic strip depicting 27 stories)
The Woggle Bug Book (1905)
Little Wizard Stories of Oz (1913, collection of 6 short stories)
Movie VS the Books
This is so much literature, that I really wonder what the movies leave out. The answer is, a lot. In the books characters travel the four countries throughout the land of Oz, in which they run into many strange and magical creatures according to the series summary.
After finding this out I was so interested in this series that I decided to look up the author L. Frank Baum, who unknown to me had written, “41 other novels, 83 short stories, 200 poems and at least 42 scripts” according to Wikipedia.
Politics in Writing
Immediately I wanted to know more about the author and the other books he wrote and that’s when I found out about his political views and I started to wonder, how have his views affected his writing?
L. Frank Baum or Lyman Frank Baum, was an avid woman’s suffrage advocate and was secretary of the Aberdeen’s Woman’s Suffrage Club. His views towards woman and the movement seem most apparent in the book, “The Marvelous Land of Oz” where women revolted to seize control at home and in government, and in The Bluebird Book series where he cast a girl sleuth named Josie O’Gorman.
Racial Views & Controversy
Baum also had some very controversial views on some Native American tribes which have haunted his legacy as a writer and as an advocate. About ten years before the first Oz book, he wrote two editorials, the first published December 20, 1890 and the second on January 3, 1891, that contained some very controversial statements. One called for “total annihilation” of “untamable” Native American tribes. He also called them “miserable wretches”, and said that their elimination would “do justice to the manly characteristics” of earlier Native Americans.
His last editorial included this quote, “An eastern contemporary, with a grain of wisdom in its wit, says that when the whites win a fight, it is a victory, and when the Indians win it, it is a massacre.” His views on Native Americans are most apparent in his writing “Aunt Jane’s Nieces and Uncle John” where one of his characters has a distaste for a ‘Hopi snake dance’. In the same writing, however, he also expresses his similar distaste for Native American reservations and the horrible situation as a whole.
It is unclear if these racial views stayed with Baum as he aged and while he was writing the first Oz book, as he did later acknowledge their mistreatment and found Native American Reservations deplorable. This may have had something to do with his mother in law, Matilda Joslyn Gage who had some influence over Baum as a Woman’s Suffrage leader herself. Matilda Joslyn Gage was also part of the Iroquois Council for Matrons and had been initiated into the Wolf Clan. Them being close, this may have had an affect on his views.
Religious Affiliation
Although Baum’s beliefs do show up in his writing, religion does not seem to be expressed as much. There is only one mention in the Oz books of a church, and it seems to be as a setting, more then as the subject. Baum himself was originally Methodist, then joined the Episcopal Church, then became a member of the Theosophical Society. It is probably fair to say that his beliefs, whatever they were, probably changed over time due to this change in membership and following.
Political Involvement
Baum also engaged in some politics during his day, he wrote and published a poem in support of William McKinley who was Governor of Ohio (1892-1896), and later president (1897-1901). Frank himself was a noted Republican and was not considered to support the political ideals of the Populist movement or the Bryanite-silver crusade. Baum’s newspaper addressed politics some, and political references were found in a 1902 musical stage version of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ which differed from the book, and included a shout out to John D. Rockefeller among a others. Few political references are noted to be found after 1902.
A New York high school teacher Henry Littlefield also wrote a an article studying any political references that may exist in the “Wizard”, and other scholars, economist and historians have followed up on Littlefields work. When ever Baum himself was asked about politics in his stories his reply was that they were stories to “please children”.
Personal Notes
If you have seen the movie only and have never read the book, expect there to be many differences. After you read this article, I encourage you to watch the movie and read the book again with all this in mind and see if you notice anything or see anything different then you may have before. Then I encourage you to comment whatever your personal findings.
References:
Wikipedia (2020, July 24th) William McKinley. Retrieved from URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McKinley
Riadse96 (2016, Dec 24th) The Wizard of Oz (stage). Retrieved from URL: https://oz.fandom.com/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz_(stage)
Wikipedia (2020 July 5th) L. Frank Baum. Retrieved from URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Frank_Baum
It should be noted that the last Wikipedia article, that much of this was sourced from has 63 references of it’s own, all of which are available for view at the bottom of the article page.