{\b L. Frank Baum}.

{\b Date of Birth}.: 15 May 1856 

{\b Date of Death}.: 6 May 1919

{\b Works}.

American author best known for his children's books and in particular The 
Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). 
His early works include an Irish melodrama The Maid of Arran (1881) and The 
Book of the Hamburgs (1886) a guide to the rearing and maintenance of Hamburg 
chickens. His children's books include Mother Goose In Prose (1897), Father 
Goose, His Book (1899) and a further thirteen Oz books as well as many books 
for teenagers under the pseudonyms of Floyd Akers, Laura Bancroft and Suzanne 
Metcalf.

{\b Featured Works}.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Marvelous Land of Oz.

{\b General Comment}.

Baum's father made his fortune in Pennsylvanian oil and the family lived in 
upper New York State. Baum had an unsettled youth, including two miserable 
years at a local military academy. He travelled widely, from South Dakota to 
Chicago, and his  numerous occupations included chicken breeding, petroleum 
marketing and some time spent as a travelling china and glassware salesman. He 
married in 1882 and had four sons. After the success of the Oz books Baum 
settled in Hollywood where he was President of the Oz Film Manufacturing 
Company.

 His books often contain scary and gruesome imagery and are extremely 
inventive with over two hundred different characters in his Oz books alone. He 
also portrays a number of strong women, from Dorothy, to the characters in the 
books he wrote for teenagers under female pseudonyms. 
In recent decades increasing attention has been paid to the political 
symbolism of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz which can be seen as a critique of the 
Democratic Populism movement raging at the end of the nineteenth century; for 
example the scarecrow with no brains alludes to the Kansas farmers accused of 
stupidity and ignorance in an infamous newspaper article.

 Various authors have added to the number of Oz books; Ruth Plumly Thompson 
alone wrote nineteen follow-ups. The 1939 film version has become a Hollywood 
classic with Judy Garland winning an Oscar.