A Peek Behind the Curtain

The Wizard of Oz is such a cultural touchstone that an entire mythology has been built around it — including the book. One of the most intriguing is that L. Frank Baum wrote it as an allegory for the idea of bimetallism. That is, basing money on silver and gold. It’s not as crazy as it sounds. Keep in mind that in the book, Dorothy wears silver slippers instead of ruby ones. The yellow brick road could easily be a stand-in for gold. So Dorothy needs both silver and gold to get where she wants to go. From that lens, Baum’s characters can be seen as representations of major interest groups…