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Loading... Finding Oz: How L. Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Storyby Evan I. Schwartz
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. With the resurgence of interest in all things wizard and Oz in recent years, this timely examination of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is fascinating. L. Frank Baum reached adulthood during the Gilded Age and tried his hand at many occupations: playwriting and acting, publishing, retail merchandising. His initial success was always followed by failure. Shaped by personal and historical places and events, and the spiritual influence of his mother-in-law, Matilda Joslyn Gage, a noted feminist of the era, Frank finally found his true self in storytelling. The characters and ideas in his signature work, from Dorothy to Toto to the Wizard himself are a distillation of late 19th century people and ideas. Part biography, part literary analysis, part history, and always informative, I recommend Finding Oz for teens and adults (  ) allmccarters | Nov 2, 2009 |  "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is going to be the next book I read thanks to Evan I. Schwartz. His book is a fascinating account of the life of L. Frank Baum. The Baum story touches scores of 19th century historical tidbits that have always interested me, for example: "the burned over " district of northern New York State. (From it came our country's greatest hoax, still surviving: Mormonism). Other historical tidbits in this book: Wounded Knee, Chicago World's Fair, Cardiff Giant Hoax, early feminism, early anti-organized religion movement, Sitting Bull's death, Theosophy, and many more. BrokenSpines | Oct 14, 2009 | Evan Schwartz's FINDING OZ is an enjoyable biography of L Frank Baum, as well as of Baum's semi-wicked (threatening, intimidating) mother in law Matilda Joslyn Gage. Matilda was a leading suffragete of the period, with a domineering personality. Life in upstate New York, Aberdeen and Chicago are detailed through good times and panics. Sidebars, if they can be called that in a book, are the Native Americans and a religious movment of the time called Theosophy. Descriptions of the Chicago Worlds Fair are captivation, the intellectual side of the fair not the entertaining.... Finding OZ is as much finding the transition from 19th century to 20th century America at the individual and family levels. The Wizard of Oz is found in the life experiences of L Frank Baum, from childhood to the moment he saw the story in his mind. Joseph Campbell's contemplation of myth and life play a key role in the interpretations. It is a fun read...... now for the movie. jbeckhamlat | Jun 2, 2009 | 
 Schwartz, formerly an editor at BusinessWeek, tells Baum’s story in a peculiar fashion... The analysis seems more YogaLife than literary... The reader, however, may be less enlightened; as in “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” there is little behind the curtain.
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0547055102, Hardcover)A groundbreaking new look at an American icon, THE WIZARD OF OZ Finding Oz tells the remarkable tale behind one of the world’s most enduring and best loved stories. Offering profound new insights into the true origins and meaning of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 masterwork, it delves into the personal turmoil and spiritual transformation that fueled Baum’s fantastical parable of the American Dream. Prior to becoming an impresario of children’s adventure tales—the J. K. Rowling of his age—Baum failed at a series of careers and nearly lost his soul before setting out on a journey of discovery that would lead to the Land of Oz. Drawing on original research, Evan Schwartz debunks popular misconceptions and shows how the people, places, and events in Baum’s life gave birth to his unforgettable images and characters. The Yellow Brick Road was real, the Emerald City evoked the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, and Baum’s mother-in-law, the radical women’s rights leader Matilda Joslyn Gage, inspired his dual view of witches—as good and wicked. A narrative that sweeps across late nineteenth-century America, Finding Oz ultimately reveals how failure and heartbreak can sometimes lead to redemption and bliss, and how one individual can ignite the imagination of the entire world. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:53:00 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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