The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
by L. Frank Baum · first published 1899
18% recommend82% neutral
Over a century after its initial publication, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is still captivating the hearts of countless readers. Come adventure with Dorothy and her three friends: the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion, as they follow the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City for an audience with the Great Oz, the mightiest Wizard in the land, and the only one that can return Dorothy to her home in Kansas.
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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?” ↗…Frisby and the Rats of NIMH From the Mixed Up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler The Egypt Game The Phantom Tollbooth (young) Holes (little older) Sideways Stories from Wayside School (young) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Homer Price (easy reading) The Indian in the Cupboard Misty of Chincoteague (series) Aesop’s Fables (young) The Eye, the Ear, and the Arm Redwall series Watership Down (I'll throw in the Discworld…
on “The original “Bambi”” ↗From "Debt, The First 5000 years": L. Frank Baum’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which appeared in 1900, is widely recognized to be a parable for the Populist campaign of William Jennings Bryan, who twice ran for president on the Free Silver platform – vowing to replace the gold…
on “The subversive messages hidden in The Wizard of Oz” ↗…make a huge difference to everyone's life -- even worldwide. "The solution is the secret that's been hidden from us for just over 100 years -- ever since the time when author L. Frank Baum wrote "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz."
on “Bloodbath for Science” ↗The Wizard of Oz was actually in fact a silver/gold allegory. https://economics.rutgers.edu/joomlatools-files/docman-files... L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, however, is not only a child's tale but also a sophisticated commentary on the political and economic debates of the Populist Era.1 Previous interpretations have focused on the political and social aspects…
on “What is money, anyway?” ↗…of free banking were outside of that period. That seems more coincidence than a meaningful signal. The author writes "Bizarre as it sounds, their disagreement led to a financial-political satire, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) by L Frank Baum, which later got made into a children’s film." Note that this is one interpretation, first made by Littlefield in the 1960s. See http://www.halcyon.com/piglet/Populism.htm for some…
on “Huge currency zones don’t work – we need one per city” ↗…to the computer trashpile of misinformation? Given the mounting evidence against it--given that Littlefield himself has admitted that it has "no basis in fact"--should we forget the whole notion of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a parable on Populism? That would be a big mistake. Perhaps we can no longer say that Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz "as an allegory of the silver movement," but we can still read it as an allegory…
on “The subversive messages hidden in The Wizard of Oz” ↗>L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” is probably the most enduringly influential work of American subcreation Does Douthat answer his own question here? Or is there a sense in which Oz doesn't fulfill his requirements for "great" American…
on “America Needs a 'Great American Fantasy'” ↗We started reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum on November 11, 2025.
on “Lettrss.com syndicates public domain books via RSS” ↗> The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which appeared in 1900, is widely recognized to be a parable for the Populist campaign of William Jennings Bryan, who twice ran for president on the Free Silver platform – vowing to replace the gold…
on “The subversive messages hidden in The Wizard of Oz” ↗"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" called this out over 120 years ago.
on “Traffic cones confused a Waymo self-driving car. Then things got worse” ↗