Oz in Perspective

Oz in Perspective
Author: Richard Tuerk
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2015-03-26
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0786482915

When moviegoers accompany Dorothy through the gates of the Emerald City, they may think they have discovered all there is to see of Oz--but as real friends of the Wizard know, more lies behind the curtain. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, on which the 1939 film was based, was only the first of 14 Oz books. Together these works constitute a series rich in allusions to a broad range of literary traditions, including fairy tale, myth, epic, the picaresque novel, and visions of utopia. Reflecting on L. Frank Baum's entire series of full-length Oz books, this study introduces readers to the great folklorist who created not only Dorothy and friends, but countless wonderful characters who still await discovery. Close analysis of each book invites readers to search Baum's fascinating stories for meaning and mythical quality. Progressing chronologically through the canon, the author discusses literary devices and important thematic implications in each book, arguing that Baum wrote for the pleasure of both children and adults, both to provide entertainment and to teach moral lessons. Of particular significance is the argument, sustained over several chapters, that Baum modeled his Oz books on classic mythical patterns, rewriting Oz history in nearly every book to produce a different set of backgrounds and a different conception of utopia for his imaginary kingdom. This variety of backgrounds and archetypes gives Baum's books a truly universal appeal. Examinations of his non-Oz books and his other Oz works, such as Little Wizard Stories of Oz and The Woggle-Bug Book, illuminate the discussion of the Oz novels.

The Wisdom of Oz

The Wisdom of Oz
Author: Roger Connors
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2016-02-02
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 0143108549

Why does the story of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion touch us? Like all great entertainment, their journey resonates. We see ourselves in the characters and likewise wish we possessed the power, the brains, the heart, and the courage to make our own dreams come true. So what are your dreams? What do you want? Is it a promotion? Improving a relationship? Rescuing a child? Finding a new job? Saving a marriage? Getting a degree? Finding the love of your life? Making a difference in your community? This book will help you get whatever you consider worthwhile in life. Simply put, when you unleash the power of personal accountability it will energize you in lifealtering ways, giving you a concrete boost that enhances your ability to think, to withstand adversity, to generate confidence, and to increase your own natural emotional, mental, and intellectual strength. Roger Connors and Tom Smith know this because they’ve seen it work in their own lives and witnessed it in the lives of some of the most successful and influential people in the world. The authors first introduced this powerful accountability philosophy in the New York Times bestseller The Oz Principle. Since then, millions have come to know them as “The Oz Guys” and they have gone on to help leaders all over the world teach and apply the principles you’re about to learn. Principles that have generated billions of dollars of wealth—along with a host of even more important results. Devotees of The Oz Principle have brought lifesaving medications to market, created better education in community colleges, greatly surpassed charity fund-raising goals, and improved medical practices in battlefield hospitals. In The Wisdom of Oz, Connors and Smith present the practical and powerful principles of personal accountability in simple, down-to-earth terms that you can apply in your homes, schools, communities, churches, and volunteer groups. The book will help you strengthen family relationships, improve friendships, motivate children, increase value on the job, improve health and financial well-being, or achieve whatever it is you most desire. Drawing on engaging stories about those who have overcome great odds—including South African president Nelson Mandela, Polish WWII hero Irena Sendler, and everyday men and women—Connors and Smith demonstrate that by taking personal ownership of your goals and accepting responsibility for your performance, you also take control of your success. You will read stories about people just like you who learned to beat their struggles, like the New York area fisherman who fell off his lobster boat and was adrift at sea for twelve hours in the chilly Atlantic . . . but survived. You will learn the traits that allowed a college senior who landed flat on her face in a 600-meter race to jump up and win. Or a thirteen-year-old soccer player who moved from the bench to the starting lineup. You will discover that while no one will ever wave a wizard’s wand and magically solve all your problems, there is a way to experience the near magical impact of personal accountability.

L. Frank Baum

L. Frank Baum
Author: Katharine M. Rogers
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 342
Release: 2007-04-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1429979844

Since it was first introduced over a hundred years ago in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum's world of Oz has become one of the most enduring and beloved creations in children's literature. It has influenced numerous prominent writers and intellectuals, and become a lasting part of the culture itself. L. Frank Baum was born in 1856 in upstate New York, the seventh child of a very successful barrel-maker and later oil producer. However, Baum's own career path was a rocky one. Beginning as an actor, Baum tried working as a traveling salesman, the editor of a small town newspaper and the publisher of a trade journal on retailing, failing to distinguish himself in any occupation. His careers either failed to provide a sufficient living for his beloved wife Maud and their children or were so exhausting as to be debilitating. In the 1890's, L. Frank Baum took the advice of his mother-in-law, suffragist leader Matilda Gage, and turned his attention to trying to sell the stories he'd been telling to his sons and their friends. After a few children's books published with varying success, he published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900 and it quickly became a bestseller and has remained so ever since. In this first full-length adult biography of Baum, Rogers discusses some of the aspects that made his work unique and has likely contributed to Oz's long-lasting appeal, including Baum's early support of feminism and how it was reflected in his characters, his interest in Theosophy and how it took form in his books, and the celebration in his stories of traditional American values. Grounding his imaginative creations, particularly in his fourteen Oz books, in the reality of his day, Katharine M. Rogers explores the fascinating life and influences of America's greatest writer for children.

Out of Oz

Out of Oz
Author: Gregory Maguire
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 526
Release: 2011-11-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0062101234

“Maguire’s work is melodic, symphonic, and beautiful; it is dejected and biting and brave. How great that people flock to these magical novels.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review Bestselling author Gregory Maguire’s remarkable series, The Wicked Years, comes full circle with this, his fourth and final excursion across a darker, richer, more complex landscape of “the magical land of Oz.” Out of Oz brilliantly reimagines L. Frank Baum’s world over the rainbow as wracked with social unrest—placing Glinda the good witch under house arrest and having the cowardly Lion on the lam from the law as the Emerald City prepares to make war on Munchkinland. Even Dorothy makes a triumphant return in Maguire’s magnificent Oz finale—tying up every loose green end of the series he began with his classic Wicked, the basis for the smash hit Broadway musical.

Lessons from Oz

Lessons from Oz
Author: Julienne LaFleur
Publisher: Flower Tree Press
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2008-10-25
Genre:
ISBN: 9780977688203

"Lessons from Oz" recaptures the magic of the film "The Wizard of Oz" while pondering life and illuminating over 35 lessons that we, as grown-ups tend to forget. Some are whimsical, some are serious, and like "Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten," this book will reconnect the reader to the important things in life. With an eye-catching ruby slipper sparkle cover, 19 classic images from the movie, and fanciful color pages throughout, you can certainly tell this book by its cover and design, that complement this imaginative perspective on the most popular movie of all time.

The Road to Wicked

The Road to Wicked
Author: Kent Drummond
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2018-07-24
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3319931067

The Road to Wicked examines the long life of the Oz myth. It is both a study in cultural sustainability— the capacity of artists, narratives, art forms, and genres to remain viable over time—and an examination of the marketing machinery and consumption patterns that make such sustainability possible. Drawing on the fields of macromarketing, consumer behavior, literary and cultural studies, and theories of adaption and remediation, the authors examine key adaptations and extensions of Baum’s 1900 novel. These include the original Oz craze, the MGM film and its television afterlife, Wicked and its extensions, and Oz the Great and Powerful—Disney’s recent (and highly lucrative) venture that builds on the considerable success of Wicked. At the end of the book, the authors offer a foundational framework for a new theory of cultural sustainability and propose a set of explanatory conditions under which any artistic experience might achieve it.

The Sea Fairies

The Sea Fairies
Author: L. Frank Baum
Publisher: The Floating Press
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2011-05-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1775452581

This delightful underwater fantasia from Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum is sure to enthrall younger readers -- and any parents or grandparents who happen to come along for the ride. A little girl named Mayre Griffiths wishes desperately to catch a glimpse of a mermaid. Not only is her wish granted, but she is also invited to pay a visit to the enchanted kingdom of these beautiful creatures.

Between Friends

Between Friends
Author: Amos Oz
Publisher: HMH
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2013-09-24
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0547985592

Winner of the National Jewish Book Award: A “gorgeous, rueful collection of eight linked stories” capturing the collective dreams of Israel in the 1950s (Chicago Tribune). These eight interconnected stories, set in the fictitious Kibbutz Yekhat, draw masterful profiles of idealistic men and women enduring personal hardships in the shadow of one of the greatest collective dreams of the twentieth century. A devoted father who fails to challenge his daughter’s lover, an old friend, a man his own age; an elderly gardener who carries on his shoulders the sorrows of the world; a woman writing perversely poignant letters to her husband’s mistress. Each of these stories is a luminous human and literary study; together they offer an eloquent portrait of an idea, and of a charged and fascinating epoch. Award-winning writer Amos Oz, who spent three decades living on a kibbutz, is at home and at his best in this “lucid and heartbreaking” award-winning collection (The Guardian). “Oz lifts the veil on kibbutz existence without palaver. His pinpoint descriptions are pared to perfection . . . His people twitch with life.” —The Scotsman “A collection of stories . . . that boasts the sense, scope and unity of a novel . . . Breathtaking.” —Irish Examiner “A complex and melancholic vision of people struggling to transcend their individuality for the sake of mundanely idealist goals.” —The Times Literary Supplement

The End of Oz

The End of Oz
Author: Danielle Paige
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2017-03-14
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0062423797

In this dark, action-packed fourth book in the New York Times bestselling Dorothy Must Die series, Amy Gumm travels from Oz to the twisted land of Ev, where she fights to free Oz from evil once and for all. My name is Amy Gumm. You might remember me as the other girl from Kansas. When a tornado swept me away to the magical land of Oz, I was given a mission: Dorothy must die. That’s right, everyone’s favorite Wicked-Witch-slayer had let the magic of Oz corrupt her. She turned evil. So I killed her. But just when we thought it was safe to start rebuilding the damaged land of Oz, we were betrayed. Now I’m following the Road of Yellow Brick as it helps me escape toward the mysterious land of Ev, where the Nome King rules a bleak and angry world. And what I’m about to find is shocking: My original mission may not have been successful. I thought my job was over, but it’s only just beginning. And it’s up to me to foil Dorothy’s plans for revenge—and finally save the land I’ve come to love.

Fix It

Fix It
Author: Roger Connors
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2016-05-31
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0698194357

From the world’s leading experts on workplace accountability comes the most comprehensive study on the subject, revealing the cure that could fix low employee engagement in the workplace once and for all One factor, more than any other, causes the problems business leaders fear most. Lackluster performance, sinking profits, and unmet stockholder expectations all stem from one source: a massive decline in em­ployee engagement. Rather than blaming employees themselves for the decline, however, the Workplace Accountability Study reveals how to fix it: the secret lies with those who lead and manage our organiza­tions. To inspire employees to be fully engaged, men­tally and emotionally, in their work, leaders must first and foremost fix accountability—in themselves, their teams, and the entire enterprise. But how? To answer that question, Roger Con­nors and Tom Smith—cofounders of Partners In Leadership, the Accountability Training and Culture Change Company, and the authors of the New York Times bestseller The Oz Principle, the definitive bible on workplace accountability—have joined forces with three expert field practitioners. The resulting book not only presents eye-opening insights drawn from the authors’ three-year, first-of-its-kind Workplace Accountability Study, it also offers 240 proven solu­tions advanced by 120 successful leaders interviewed exclusively for this book. Their combined wisdom can help you solve every conceivable accountability prob­lem, whenever and wherever it pops up. Since one size does not fit all in today’s chal­lenging business environment, this official sequel to The Oz Principle provides an innovative, self-directed journey into accountability that enables you to tailor solutions to your own unique situation. Fix It tack­les the 16 Accountability Traits consistently found in highly accountable, effective people, teams, and organizations, and it guides you to the ones you need to fix right now. You will design your personally tailored path through the book: 1. In Part 1, you create your Fix It Bucket List by taking the three-minute Fix It Assessment. 2. In Part 2, you spend fifteen minutes reading about the Accountability Trait in question. 3. In Part 3, you explore several tried-and-true solu­tions that will work for you, your team, or your entire organization. Fix It is destined to become an indispensable leadership and management resource for resolving any pressing problem in your organization. Whatever you need, from more accountability and ownership to greater engage­ment and leadership, this book will help you get the results you need. For more information, visit: www.fixit-book.com