Henry M. Littlefield (June 12, 1933 – March 30, 2000) was an American educator,

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

most notable for his claim that L. Frank Baum's ''

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' is a children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz afte ...

'' was a political

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

, founding a long tradition of political interpretations of this book. He wrote an essay about his theory for his high-school students in Mount Vernon, New York, and published it in the '' American Quarterly'' in 1964. Littlefield was also a well-known wrestling coach at Mt. Vernon High School and Amherst College. Author

John Irving John Winslow Irving (born John Wallace Blunt Jr.; March 2, 1942) is an American-Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of ''The World According to ...

served as an informal assistant coach at Amherst, and mentioned Littlefield in his essay-cum-memoir, "Trying to Save Piggy Sneed." On page 118, Irving wrote, “Henry Littlefield was the coach at Amherst then; Henry was a heavyweight—everything about him was grand. He was more than expansive, he was eloquent; he was better than good-humored, he was jolly. Henry was very rare, a kind of Renaissance man among wrestling coaches, and the atmosphere in the Amherst wrestling room was, to Henry’s credit, both aggressive and good-natured—a difficult combination to achieve.” Littlefield served as dean of students at Amherst, leaving that position in 1976 to become headmaster of the York School in Monterey, California. He also taught at

Golden Gate University Golden Gate University (GGU or Golden Gate) is a private university in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1901, GGU specializes in educating professionals through its schools of law, business, taxation, and accounting. The university offers s ...

, Naval Postgraduate School, and the

Stevenson School Stevenson School (also known as Robert Louis Stevenson School and abbreviated as RLS) is a coeducational, private school for boarding and day students in preschool through twelfth grade. Its high school and Pre-K through eighth-grade campuses are ...

. Littlefield received his B.A. from Columbia College, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. During his studies, he also served as an officer in the Marine Corps from 1954 to 1958. At Columbia, he played in the ''

Varsity Show The Varsity Show is one of the oldest traditions at Columbia University and its oldest performing arts presentation. Founded in 1894 as a fundraiser for the university's fledgling athletic teams, the Varsity Show now draws together the entire Col ...

'' and attended the

American Theatre Wing The American Theatre Wing (the Wing for short) is a New York City–based non-profit organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre", according to its mission statement. Originally known as the Stage Women's War Relief ...

with the intention of becoming an actor. He died on March 30, 2000.

References

External links

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His essay on the origins of the Oz essay
American literary critics 1933 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers {{US-historian-stub Columbia College (New York) alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Golden Gate University faculty Naval Postgraduate School faculty American high school teachers Amherst College faculty