Bibliography/Oz writings/Finding out more

This FAQ only covers the main points about Oz. Much more information is available from these resources, many of which were consulted during the compilation of this FAQ. Anyone looking for more detailed information is encouraged to seek out some of these books, magazines, and videos. (Those seeking out even more resources, especially newspaper, magazine, and journal articles, should check out the bibliographies of these books, notably Hearn's Critical Heritage edition of The Wizard of Oz.) The bibliography is divided into general categories.

Introductory and general information about Oz

• The Baum Bugle. The International Wizard of Oz Club, 1957-present. (The journal of the Oz Club. Six The Best of The Baum Bugle collections, reprinting articles from the earliest issues, have also been published.)
• Carroll, Williard, and John Fricke. 100 Years of Oz. Stewart Tabori and Chang, 1999.
• Eyles, Allen. The World of Oz. Black Pig Editions (UK) and HPBooks, Inc. (USA), 1985.
• Fricke, John. The Wonderful World of Oz: An Illustrated History of the American Classic. Down East Books, 2013. (A revised and expanded version of 100 Years of Oz.)
• Greene, David L., and Dick Martin. The Oz Scrapbook. Random House, 1977.
• Oz: The American Fairyland. Video documentary, Sirocco Video, 1998.
• Sherman, Fraser A. The Wizard of Oz Catalog. McFarland and Company, 2005.
• Simpson, Paul. A Brief Guide to Oz (Going Over the Rainbow). Running Press, 2014.
• Sunshine, Linda. All Things Oz: The Wonder, Wit, and Wisdom of The Wizard of Oz. Clarkson Potter, 2003

About the Land of Oz and its citizens

• Berman, Ruth. Who's Who in the Borderlands of Oz. Privately published by Berman, undated.
• Clarke, Peter B. The Index to Oz. Tails of the Cowardly Lion and Friends, 2002.
• Gale, Gabriel and John Fricke. The Art of Oz: Witches, Wizards, and Wonders Beyond the Yellow Brick Road. Universe, 2021.
• Haff, James E., and Dick Martin. Maps of Oz and the Surrounding Countries. The International Wizard of Oz Club, 1964 (with several subsequent revisions).
• Haff, James E., with descriptions, additions, notes, and a gazeteer by Ruth Berman. Who's Who in Oz: An Appendix. Privately published by Berman, 1994.
• Manguel, Alberto, and Gianni Guadalupi. The Dictionary of Imaginary Places (updated and expanded edition). Harcourt Brace, 1999.
• Pattrick, Robert R. Unexplored Territory in Oz (second edition, annotations by Patrick Maund). The International Wizard of Oz Club, 1990. (There are also earlier, unannotated editions.)
• Snow, Jack. Who's Who in Oz. The Reilly and Lee Co., 1954.

About L. Frank Baum and his works

• Abrams, Dennis. L. Frank Baum (part of the "Who Wrote That?" series). Chelsea House Publications, 2010.
• American Experience: American Oz. PBS, 2021. Documentary on the life of Baum.
• Attebery, Brian. The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to LeGuin. Indiana University Press, 1980.
• Baum, Frank Joslyn, and Russell P. MacFall. To Please a Child: A Biography of L. Frank Baum, Royal Historian of Oz. The Reilly & Lee Co., 1961.
• Baum, L. Frank, edited and annotated by Nancy Tystad Koupal. Our Landlady. University of Nebraska Press, 1996. (While much of this book is made up of Baum's "Our Landlady" columns of 1890 and 1891, Koupal's introduction and notes are of value for those researching Baum's life and early writings.)
• Carpenter, Angelica Shirley, and Jean Shirley. L. Frank Baum, Royal Historian of Oz. Lerner Publications Company, 1992.
• The Dictionary of Literary Biography, vol. 22. Gale, 1983. (Includes critical essays by Michael Patrick Hearn on both Baum and Ruth Plumly Thompson.)
• Ferrara, Susan. The Family of the Wizard: The Baum's of Syracuse. Xlibris, 1999. (A look at Baum's early years in upstate New York and the rest of his family.)
• Ford, Alla T., and Dick Martin. The Musical Fantasies of L. Frank Baum. The Wizard Press, 1958.
• Gardner, Martin, and Russel B. Nye. The Wizard of Oz and Who He Was. Michigan State University Press, 1957.
• Golding, William, and Harold Bloom. Classic Fantasy Writers. Chelsea House, 1994.
• Greene, Carol. L. Frank Baum, Author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Childrens Press, 1995.
• Haber, Erika. Oz Behind the Iron Curtain: Aleksandr Volkov and His Magic Land Series. University Press of Mississippi, 2017. Examines the Russian version of the Land of Oz with Baum's original American one.
• Hearn, Michael Patrick. The Annotated Wizard of Oz. Clarkson N. Potter, 1973. Revised and updated in a new edition from W. W. Norton, 2000.
• Koupal, Nancy Tystad, ed. Baum's Road to Oz: The Dakota Years. South Dakota Historical Society, 2000. (A collection of essays about Baum's time living in South Dakota, and how it may have affected his later writings.)
• L. Frank Baum: The Man Behind the Curtain. Warner Bros. Home Video, 2005. (This documentary is part of the collector's editions of The Movie on DVD and Blu-Ray.)
• Leach, William R. Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture. Pantheon Books, 1993. (The title says it all — but it turns out that L. Frank Baum was a part of the process.)
• Loncraine, Rebecca. The Real Wizard of Oz: The Life and Times of L. Frank Baum. Gotham Books, 2009.
• Massachi, Dina Schiff, ed. The Characters of Oz: Essays on Their Adaptation and Transformation. MacFarland, 2023
• Riley, Michael O. Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum. University Press of Kansas, 1997.
• Rogers, Katherine M. L. Frank Baum: Creator of Oz. St. Martin's Press, 2002.
• Rylant, Cynthia. Margaret, Frank, and Andy: Three Writers' Stories. Harcourt Brace and Company, 1996.
• Schwartz, Evan I. Finding Oz: How L. Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Story. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. (Some points in this book have been disputed.)
• Wheeler, Jill C. L. Frank Baum. Abdo and Daughters, 1997.

Criticisms and interpretations of Baum and his works

• Bausch, William J. Yellow Brick Road: A Storyteller's Approach to the Spiritual Journey. Twenty-Third Publications, 1999.
• Brousky, Samuel. The Wizard of Oz Revealed. Writers Consortium, 1995.
• Burger, Alissa. The Wizard of Oz as American Myth: A Critical Study of Six Versions of the Story, 1900-2007. McFarland, 2012.
• Dighe, Ranjit S., ed. The Historian's Wizard of Oz : Reading L. Frank Baum's Classic As a Political and Monetary Allegory. Praeger Publishing, 2002.
• Durand, Kevin K. and Mary K. Leigh, eds. The Universe of Oz: Essays on Baum’s Series and Its Progeny. McFarland, 2010.
• Earle, Neil. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in American Popular Culture: Uneasy in Eden. The Edwin Mellen Press, 1993.
• Greene, Joey. The Zen of Oz: Ten Spiritual Lessons from Over the Rainbow. Renaissance Books, 1998.
• Hearn, Michael Patrick, ed. The Critical Heritage Series: The Wizard of Oz. Schocken Books, 1983. (This is the original story, plus twenty essays by a number of writers covering a number of aspects of Oz. Includes an extensive supplemental reading list of still more Oz writings.)
• Houston, Jean. The Wizard of Us: Transformational Lessons from Oz. Atria Books, 2012.
• Kimsey, Ilene. Golden Wizdom Beyond the Emerald City. Toto-ly Ozsome Publishing, 2000.
• Levonian, Greg. Oz & Ends: Wisdom from the Emerald City. BearManor Media, 2011.
• Main, Darren John. Spiritual Journeys Along the Yellow Brick Road. Findhorn Press, 2000.
• Marvel, Richard. The New Oz: The Wizard Revisited. Valkyrie Publishing House, 1992.
• Moore, Raylyn. Wonderful Wizard, Marvelous Land. Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1974.
• Morena, Gita Dorothy. The Wisdom of Oz. Inner Connections Press, 1998. (An examination of the psychological and spiritual meanings of Oz, written by L. Frank Baum's great-granddaughter.)
• Peaston, Monroe. Story Patterns in Some Great American Classics. Fithian, 1999.
• Rahn, Suzanne. The Wizard of Oz: Shaping an Imaginary World. Twayne Publishers, 1998.
• Rahn, Suzanne, ed. L. Frank Baum's World of Oz: A Classic Series at 100. Scarecrow Press, 2003.
• Stewart, Jesse. Secrets of the Yellow Brick Road: A Map for the Modern Spiritual Journey. SunShine Press Publications, 1997.
• Tuerk, Richard. Oz in Perspective: Magic and Myth in the L. Frank Baum Books. McFarland, 2007.
• Wagenknecht, Edward. Utopia Americana. University of Washington Book Store, 1929.
• Whitehead, Christine. The Wondrous Wizdom of Oz: A Spiritual Odyssey. Brandylane, 2004.

About collecting Oz books

• Bienvenue, Paul R., and Robert E. Schmidt. The Book Collector's Guide to L. Frank Baum and Oz. March Hare Books, 2009.
• Greene, Douglas G., and Peter E. Hanff. Bibliographia Oziana (revised and enlarged edition). The International Wizard of Oz Club, 1988.
• Hinke, C. J. Oz in Canada. William Hoffer, 1982.
• Thompson, W. Neal. Bibliographia Baumiana. The International Wizard of Oz Club, 2017.
• Trust, Fred. The Wizard of Oz Books Collector's Price Guide. RareOzBooks.com, 2007.

About The Movie

• Auxier, Randall E. and Phil Seng, eds. The Wizard of Oz and Philosophy: Wicked Wisdom of the West. Open Court, 2008.
• Fricke, John. The Wizard of Oz: An Illustrated Companion to the Timeless Movie Classic. Fall River Press, 2009.
• Fricke, John, Jay Scarfone, and William Stillman. The Wizard of Oz: The Official 50th Anniversary Pictorial History. Warner Books, 1989.
• Harmetz, Aljean. The Making of The Wizard of Oz. Alfred A. Knopf, 1978. (Updated editions appeared in 1989 from Delta Books, in 1999 from Hyperion, and in 2013 from Chicago Review Press.)
• Hogan, David. The Wizard of Oz FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About Life According to Oz. Applause Theatre & Cinema, 2014.
• Langley, Noel, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf, edited by Michael Patrick Hearn. The Wizard of Oz: The Screenplay. Delta Books, 1989.
• LIFE: The Wizard of Oz: 75 Years Along the Yellow Brick Road. Life Magazine, 2014.
• McClelland, Doug. Down the Yellow Brick Road: The Making of The Wizard of Oz. Pyramid Books, 1976.
• Memories of Oz. Television documentary, 2001.
• Nathanson, Paul. Over the Rainbow: The Wizard of Oz as a Secular Myth of America. State University of New York Press, 1991.
• Piro, Rita E. Judy Garland and The Wizard of Oz: The All Wonderful and All True Pictorial Book of Trivia. Great Feats Press, 2003.
• Rushdie, Salman. BFI Film Classics: The Wizard of Oz. BFI Publishing, 1992.
• Scarfone, Jay and William Stillman. The Road to Oz: The Evolution, Creation, and Legacy of a Motion Picture Masterpiece. Lyons Press, 2018.
• Stillman, William and Jay Scarfone. The Wizard of Oz: The Official 75th Anniversary Companion. Harper Design, 2013.
• Stillman, William, and Jay Scarfone. The Wizardry of Oz. Random House, 1999, and, in a revised and expanded edition, Applause, 2004.
• The Wizard of Oz. DVD release, 2005. Either the 2- or 3-disc set, or 2-, 3-, or 4-disc sets of the 2009 rerelease, includes several new documentaries and much supplemental information.
• The Wizard of Oz. Designed by Peter Ward, forward by John Russell Taylor. Portland House/Limpsfield (USA) and Dragon's World, Ltd. (UK), 1989. (A lavish coffee table book edition of the script, with many, many photographs from The Movie.)
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: Fifty Years of Movie Magic. Television documentary, 1990.

About the Ruby Slippers

• The E! True Hollywood Story: The Trail of the Ruby Slippers. E! Television production, 2000.
• Thomas, Rhys. The Ruby Slippers of Oz. Tale Weaver Publishing, 1989.
• Thomas, Rhys. The Ruby Slippers of Oz: Thirty Years Later. Lulu.com, 2018. As you may have guessed, an updated version of Thomas' first book about the Ruby Slippers.
• Treasure! The Search for the Ruby Slippers. A&E television/video documentary.

About the cast and crew of The Movie

• Biography: Judy Garland. A&E television/video documentary.
• Burke, Billie. With a Feather on My Nose. Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1949. (Another book by Burke of interest is With Powder on My Nose, published by Coward McCann in 1959. It is not an autobiography, however, but a book of make-up and household tips.)
• Carroll, Willard. I, Toto: The Autobiography of Terry, the Dog Who Was Toto. Stewart Tabori & Chang, 2001.
• Clarke, Gerald. Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland. Random House, 2000.
• Cox, Stephen. The Munchkins of Oz. Cumberland House, 2002. (A second, updated edition of the 1996 edition, which was itself an updated and expanded version of Cox's first book about the Munchkins and the people who played them, The Munchkins Remember: The Wizard of Oz and Beyond. E. P. Dutton, 1989.)
• Denton, Clive. The Hollywood Professionals, Volume 5: King Vidor, John Cromwell, Mervyn LeRoy. A. S. Barnes and Co., 1976.
• Ebsen, Buddy. The Other Side of Oz. Donovan Publishing, 1994.
• Esquevin, Christian. Adrian: Silver Screen to Custom Label. Monacelli, 2008.
• Eyman, Scott. Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer. Simon & Schuster, 2005. A biography of the head of MGM.
• Finch, Christopher. Rainbow. Grosset & Dunlap, 1975. (Considered by many to be the definitive biography of Judy Garland.)
• Fordin, Hugh. MGM's Greatest Musicals: The Freed Unit. Da Capo Press, 1975 and 1996.
• Frank, Gerold. Judy. Harper & Row, 1975. (Another highly regarded Garland biography.)
• Fricke, John. Judy Garland: World's Greatest Entertainer. Henry Holt and Company, 1992. (A thorough, objective examination of Judy Garland's life and career.)
• Gillespie, A. Arnold. The Wizard of MGM: Memoirs of A. Arnold Gillespie . BearManor Media, 2012.
• Harold Arlen: Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Video documentary, 1998.
• Haley, Jack. The Heart of the Tin Man. Seven Locks Press, 2001.
• Hayter-Menzies, Grant. Mrs. Ziegfeld: The Public and Private Lives of Billie Burke. McFarland, 2009.
• Jablonski, Edward. Harold Arlen: Rhythm, Rainbow, and Blues. Northeastern University Press, 1996. (An earlier book about Arlen, Happy with the Blues, also by Jablonski, was published by Doubleday in 1961.)
• Judy Garland: By Myself, a 2004 episode of the American Masters television series.
• Lahr, John. Notes on a Cowardly Lion. Alfred A. Knopf, 1969.
• LeRoy, Mervyn. Mervyn LeRoy: Take One. Hawthorn, 1974.
• LeRoy, Mervyn (as told to Alyce Canfield). It Takes More Than Talent. Alfred Knopf, 1953.
• Marsh-Doll, Caren. Hollywood's Babe. Joshua Tree Publishing, 2007. (This was a revised version of Marsh-Doll's earlier memoir, Hollywood's Child: Dancing Through Oz.
• Maren, Jerry. Short and Sweet: The Life and Times of the Lollipop Munchkin. Cumberland House, 2008.
• Meyerson, Harold, and Ernie Harburg. Who Put the Rainbow in The Wizard of Oz? Yip Harburg, Lyricist. University of Michigan Press, 1993.
• Raabe, Meinhardt, and Daniel Kinske. Memories of a Munchkin: An Illustrated Walk Down the Yellow Brick Road. Backstage Books, 2005.
• Sragow, Michael. Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master. Pantheon, 2008.
• Van Leuven, Holly. Ray Bolger: More than a Scarecrow. Oxford University Press, 2019.
• Vidor, King. A Tree Is a Tree. Longmans, Green, 1954.
• We're Off to See the Munchkins. Video documentary, hosted by John Fricke.
• Wehr, Wesley. The Eighth Lively Art: Conversations With Painters, Poets, Musicians, and the Wicked Witch of the West. University of Washington Press, 2000.

(There are, of course, many other biographies of Judy Garland available, but this list would be far too long if I were to name them all.)

About other dramatic interpretations and the people involved

• Anobile, Richard J. The Wiz Scrapbook. Berkley Publishing Corp., 1978. (Primarily a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie, but with an extensive look at The Wiz on Broadway as well.)
• Aufderheide, Jeremy. How the Wiz Was. Lulu.com, 2014.
• Baum, L. Frank, Frederic Chapin, and Arthur Gillespie. Introduction by David Maxine. Complete Sheet Music from the 1905 Musical Comedy The Woggle-Bug. Hungry Tiger Press, 2001.
• Birkett, Danielle and Dominic McHugh, eds. Adapting The Wizard of Oz: Musical Versions from Baum to MGM and Beyond. Oxford University Press, 2019.
• Chenoweth, Kristin, with Joni Rodgers. A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love, and Faith in Stages. Touchstone, 2009. (The memoir of the actress who originated the role of Glinda in Wicked.)
• Collier, Kevin Scott. The Wonderful Animated World of The Wizard of Oz. CreateSpace. 2018.
• Cote, David. Wicked: The Grimmerie, a Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Hit Broadway Musical. Hyperion, 2005.
• de Giere, Carol. Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked. Applause Books, 2008.
• Fields, Amond. Fred Stone: Circus Performer and Musical Comedy Star. McFarland and Company, 2002. (His big break was playing the Scarecrow in 1902.)
• Forgotten Lives. Online documentary series, 2010. (This episode of the series features a profile of Fred Stone.)
• Goldschmidt, Rick. The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass. Miser Bros. Press, 2001. (Includes information on three Oz-related Rankin/Bass projects: Tales of the Wizard of Oz, Return to Oz (1964), and The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1985).)
• Hayter-Menzies, Grant. Charlotte Greenwood: The Life and Career of the Comic Star of Vaudeville, Radio and Film. McFarland and Company, 2007. (One of the earliest roles of her long career was Queen Ann of Oogaboo in the 1913 play The Tik-Tok Man of Oz.)
• Ross, Suzanne. The Wicked Truth. Doers Publishing, 2007.
• Shanower, Eric. All Wound Up: The Making of the Tik Tok Man of Oz. Hungry Tiger Press, 2023. About the 1913 play The Tik-Tok Man of Oz.
• Stone, Fred. Rolling Stone. McGraw-Hill, 1945. (Autobiography of the actor who played the Scarecrow in the 1902 stage production.)
• Swartz, Mark Evan. Oz Before the Rainbow: L. Frank Baum's the Wonderful Wizard of Oz on Stage and Screen to 1939. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.

Art and Artists

• Charles Santore Illustrates the Wizard of Oz. Video documentary, Sirocco Video, 1998.
• Greene, Douglas G., and Michael Patrick Hearn. W. W. Denslow. Clarke Historical Library, 1976. (Biography of Baum's Wizard of Oz collaborator.)
• Martin, Dick. An Oz Picture Gallery. The International Wizard of Oz Club, 1984.
• Martin, Dick. The Oz Sketchbook. The International Wizard of Oz Club, 1986.
• Moser, Barry. Forty-Seven Days to Oz. The International Wizard of Oz Club, 2002.

Collecting and Collectibles

• Scarfone, Jay, and William Stillman. The Wizard of Oz Collector's Treasury. Schiffer Publishing, 1992. (A catalog of Oz items.)

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