The Oz. in Oz The late 19th century was a time of drastic internal improvements in the United States. During this "Gilded Age," The Democratic platform and the silver standard captivated Baum. Baum supported William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic candidate for President in 1896. Jennings Bryan, however, lost the election. Baum, an already accomplished children's author, then wrote The Wizard of Oz, as an allegory of the Populists' failed efforts to reform the nation in 1896. The …showed first 75 words of 1673 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1673 total…as a Parable on Populism": Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians. 15. (1994): 49-63. Rpt. Wright, W.R. Piglet Press, Inc. 7 Feb, 2002 <http://www.halcyon.com/piglet/ozends.htm>. Rahn, Suzanne. The Wizard of Oz: Shaping an Imaginary World. New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillan, 1998. Wang, Grant, and Dan Jacobs. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: An Examination of the Underlying Political Allegory. 7 Feb 2002 <http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/dbj5/oz.html>.