Political interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Political interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Political interpretations of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" include treatments of the modern fairy tale (written by L. Frank Baum and first published in 1900) as an allegory or metaphor for the political, economic, and social events of America in the 1890s. Scholars have examined four quite different versions of Oz: the novel of 1900, the Broadway play of 1901, the Hollywood film of 1939, and the numerous follow-up Oz novels written after 1900 by Baum and others. The political interpretations focus on the first three, and emphasize the close relationship between
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"s publication in 1900, it received little critical analysis from scholars of children's literature. According to Ruth Berman of "Science Fiction Studies", the lists of suggested reading published for juvenile readers never contained Baum's work. The lack of interest stemmed from the scholars' misgivings about fantasy, as well as to their belief that lengthy series had little literary merit. It has frequently come under fire over the years. In 1957, the director of Detroit's libraries banned "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" for having "no value" for children of his day, for supporting "negativism", and for bringing