The Yellow Brick Road to Populism – In Person

Long before Hollywood draped it in technicolor, L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, revolutionized children’s literature by giving birth to a uniquely American fairy tale. While Baum himself consistently denied any hidden motives, many historians and readers believe the story serves as a brilliant, coded political allegory for the Gilded Age. This lecture explores how Baum rejected dark European traditions to craft a homegrown mythos, while examining why Dorothy’s journey continues to be read as a mirror for the fierce Populist movement and economic anxieties of late 19th-century America.  Presented by Alexander Clemente.