Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum

Michael O. Riley

3.78 · Rating details · 37 ratings · 8 reviews

Long before Judy Garland sang Over the Rainbow, the denizens of Oz had already captivated the American reading public. The quintessential American fairy tale, L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has had a singular influence on our culture since it first appeared in 1900. Yet, as Michael Riley shows, Baum's achievement went far beyond this one book, or even the 13 ot ...more

Get A Copy

Hardcover, 286 pages

Published August 1st 1997 by University Press of Kansas

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Oz and Beyond, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about Oz and Beyond

Lists with This Book

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Oz and the People Who Made It

83 books — 7 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.78 ·

Rating details

· 37 ratings · 8 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum

Apr 09, 2017 Roland rated it really liked it

An excellent overview of the Baum's extended fairy tale universe. I'm just starting to read more about Baum and I had no idea that, after writing several different fairy tales with their own lands, he decided to incorporate them into his Oz tales and have these lands border Oz itself. I would have liked the book to have gone into more detail on the rest of the official 40 Oz books, but since the focus was on Baum I'm not going to fault the book for that. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 26, 2010 Emily rated it liked it

Shelves: child-lit-studies

A quick read. Somehow I was expecting something more dense, with impenetrable prose and bristling with footnotes, but this book turns out to be not that academic. It's more of an affectionate summary of the plots of all of Baum's fantasy books (not just the Oz ones). A couple of times the author raises the thesis that Baum's vision of Oz is actually more coherent than is generally thought, but this is so manifestly indefensible that one wonders why he bothers. Riley is most interesting when he w ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Sep 15, 2017 Liss Carmody rated it liked it

This was an interesting read. I haven't explored the world of Oz extensively since I was a kid, although when I was 10-11 I read the first part of the series (I seemed to glom instinctively onto only the portion written by Baum himself) extensively and repeatedly. Arguably Oz, together with Narnia, constituted my premiere fantasy worlds, and I drank them in. So I was pretty intrigued by a book whose entire focus was not so much literary criticism of the Oz stories themselves, but rather tracing ...more

flag Like · see review

Aug 31, 2017 Rebecca rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

Slightly scholarly, but totally readable, this book is a fascinating look at how Baum's personal life impacted his books for children. Makes me want to go back and reread Baum with a new perspective. ...more

flag Like · see review

May 30, 2015 Sarah rated it liked it

A surprisingly light read. The focus of the Riley's book is on examining the development of Baum's "American fairyland" over his career; to that end, Riley looks at each of Baum's fantasies, Oz and otherwise, analyzing the themes, elements, and passages of prose that contribute to the somewhat contradictory but always distinctly American vision Baum came to espouse. That line of investigation is extremely interesting, even if it can sometimes come off as rather "bitty," especially when discussin A surprisingly light read. The focus of the Riley's book is on examining the development of Baum's "American fairyland" over his career; to that end, Riley looks at each of Baum's fantasies, Oz and otherwise, analyzing the themes, elements, and passages of prose that contribute to the somewhat contradictory but always distinctly American vision Baum came to espouse. That line of investigation is extremely interesting, even if it can sometimes come off as rather "bitty," especially when discussing the later Oz books (where Baum is refining rather than inventing). There are plenty of interesting things to consider which seasoned Baum fans like myself probably simply take for granted: when, for instance, Baum actually starts to refer to Oz as a "fairy country," when and why he finally puts aside all possibility of death in his fantasy worlds, and when it is that Ozma shifts from being just a "little girl" to an actual, powerful fairy (it is, actually, very late in the game!). None of these revelations are particularly Earth-shattering, but I did enjoy watching Riley put the pieces of the puzzle together and reflect a fair amount of methodology - sometimes, purely commercially-driven - in Baum's world creation.

What's less appealing about the book, especially in a modern light, is Riley's reliance on simple plot description - and how uneven it can be. As this book was published in 1997, before the advent of Project Gutenberg and instant access to every one of Baum's fantasies, it is certainly understandable that Riley chooses to thoroughly summarize many of the non-Oz books, such as The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus and John Dough and the Cherub (heck, I've never read John Dough, and I've been reading Baum for almost 30 years). I am completely puzzled, though, as to why The Sea Fairies and Sky Island get only the most perfunctory descriptions of less than a page each, nor why The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (a book that has never been out of print) requires a full three-and-a-half pages of pure summary. It's inconsistent, and of course with today's resources I found myself skimming past the summaries of all but the most unfamiliar works.

Finally, it's a little hard to get a grip on Riley's tone. That's an academic concern rather than a general one, as Riley's prose is never less than readable. The book is very conversational, actually. Yet that same conversational voice sometimes feels like it lightens the book up so much as to make it feel inconsequential. It's not even "pop academic" - it often just seems like a long fan essay. Riley might have been well advised to separate some of his content a little more clearly; keeping the main of the book to his critical analysis, with some of his tangents as footnotes, might have been a good beginning. The reader also might have been well served with the long plot summaries relegated to an appendix.

Regardless, I did enjoy reading Oz and Beyond, although it didn't leave me totally satisfied. What it did leave me with are some new thoughts and questions about the nature of Baum's fairyland, which will doubtless translate themselves into my own research. It was a good "library read," and I would encourage others interested in the topic to see if their university library can obtain a copy for their own studies. ...more

flag Like · see review

Apr 23, 2015 Olivia rated it liked it

I guess all I can say is that it was a biography. This book did not get my mind running, and wanting to continue. It was good though. L. Frank Baum's life was pretty interesting. Two thirds of this book was all about the books he wrote. This book explains Baum's life but as you can tell by two thirds of this being about his books, not thoroughly explaining in detail about L. Frank Baum. I do not like expository stuff. Mainly fiction where much detail can be found. If you are that way and only re ...more

flag Like · see review

Jul 29, 2011 Jeff rated it liked it · review of another edition

Not a bad read, especially if you are interested in the life of the creator of America's first true fairy tale. My only complaint is that the author wrote with perhaps too much of his own opinion for a biographical book. However, still interesting information on an interesting person. Baum was an American treasure with a long-lasting impact that I am not sure even that great dreamer could have imagined! ...more

flag Like · see review

Sep 11, 2009 Steven rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, biography-memoir, books-on-books, writing, references, nonfiction

A good overview and linking together of Baum's OZ and other children's books. The book itself is mostly a synopsis and discussion of Baum's books with recommendations on which books are strongest/weakest and why. The bibliography alone is great for helping find research books on 19th and 20th century children's books or early fantasies. ...more

flag Like · see review