L. Frank Baum's World of Oz

Beginning with a glance back over the entire history of research and commentary on the Oz books, this work is organized in three main sections. Essays in the "Origins of Oz" examine Frank Baum's personal history and unlock the mystery of one of the most bizarre episodes in the Oz books. "The World of Oz" looks at three very different aspects of Baum's world: its concept of home and family, its sense of humor, and its relationship to its young readers. "Oz on Screen" features both the silent films Baum produced himself and MGM's classic movie The Wizard of Oz.

Suzanne Rahn is Associate Professor of English at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington and Director of their Children's Literature Program. She is also the author of Children's Literature: An Annotated Bibliography of the History and Criticism, Rediscoveries in Children's Literature and The Wizard of Oz: Shaping an Imaginary World.

...Rahn takes seriously the proposition that Baum deserves some consideration not just as a children's writer but as a representative figure in American cultural history...Rahn's crisply written and thoroughly researched introduction surveying a century's worth of popular, scholarly, and pedagogical responses to Oz, will be particularly useful...this is a good reference work and deserves recognition as such... Utopian Studies An intriguing and eclectic sampling of recent critical analyses of the Oz books, their creator, and the larger Oz phenomenon. The Baum Bugle