Finding Oz, Evan I. Schwartz
Finding Oz, Evan I. Schwartz
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Finding Oz
How L. Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Story

Author: Evan I. Schwartz

Narrator: Will Tulin

Unabridged: 12 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Mariner Books

Published: 09/24/2024

Synopsis

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.

About Evan I. Schwartz

EVAN I. SCHWARTZ is a former award-winning editor at Business Week and the author of The Last Lone Inventor, named one of the seventy-five best business books of all time by Fortune. The idea for Finding Oz came to him while reading Baum’s classic to his daughter at bedtime.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Hannah on January 18, 2024

"One day in 1898, an unusual sequence of images leaped from one man's mind: A gray Kansas prairie. A lively girl with a brave little dog. A terrifying twister. A mystical land ruled by both good and wicked witches." This proved a fascinating, in-depth look at the man behind the Land of Oz, from his p......more

Goodreads review by Charles on December 06, 2009

Everybody loves the 1939 MGM Wizard of Oz, but for some aficionados of L. Frank Baum's works, the film that better captures the essence of Baum's vision is the 1985 Disney-produced Return to Oz. Directed by Oscar-winning sound and film editor Walter Murch, it was a critical and commercial flop, perh......more

Goodreads review by Margie on June 03, 2012

Quick, what do Hinduism, Susan B. Anthony, John D. Rockefeller, and the Columbian Exposition (Chicago World's Fair) have in common? All were influences on L. Frank Baum's story of Dorothy and her little dog, too. Over the years many people have tried to unearth a deeper meaning behind "The Wizard of......more

Goodreads review by Christopher on August 08, 2017

Pretty cool book. Schwartz throws in every influence that Frank Baum got buzzed by on the way to Oz: Sitting Bull, Madame Blavatsky, the Peerskill Military Academy, and his amazing mother-in-law, Mildred Gage. What a woman! I have to find out everything about her. She was the wizard behind the wizar......more

Goodreads review by Meichler on April 24, 2011

This books wasn't exactly what I was expecting - but that's not a bad thing, I actually found it to be more interesting than a straight up biography of a storyteller. Rather than just telling the story of Frank Baum, it was more of a history book of the late 1800's - going into women's suffrage, Sit......more

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