Politics of Oz

L. Frank Baum historian Nancy Tystad Koupal delves into the true meaning of Baum's The Wizard of Oz , refuting old ideas of Populist allegory, while establishing a new paradigm for considering this most famous piece of American children's literature. This ebook short sets the tone for further discussion of the meaning of Baum's work, as well, providing new insight and historical background on both the author and the state of South Dakota.

Nancy Tystad Koupal is the director and editor in chief of the Pioneer Girl Project and founding director (1997–2020) of the South Dakota Historical Society Press. She received an M.A. in English from Morehead State University in Kentucky and did postgraduate work in American literature at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Koupal is the editor of Pioneer Girl: The Path into Fiction (2023), Pioneer Girl: The Revised Texts (2022), Pioneer Girl Perspectives (2017), and Our Landlady (1996), a collection of L. Frank Baum’s satirical newspaper columns. Read Koupal’s blogs about all things Wilder .