The Novel

Who is General Jinjur? At the end of L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz the Scarecrow is enthroned as the ruler over the Land of Oz. In the sequel, The Land of Oz, the Scarecrow is abruptly over-thrown by the rebellious General Jinjur and her all girl army of revolt. Things in the Emerald City are turned upside-down when Jinjur and her girls "run things to suit ourselves" and force men to do housework. However all things are set right by the end of the book when the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, with the assistance of the Sorceress Glinda, set all to rights and set the rightful ruler of Oz, Princess Ozma, on the throne and overthrow Jinjur, the fiery interloper.

But who is General Jinjur? Why did she overthrow the Scarecrow's reign with the glib excuse "Oz has been ruled by men long enough; we're going to run things now to suit ourselves"? It is easy to dismiss her girls with their outlandishly colorful costumes as hybrid suffragette caricatures and musical comedy chorus line. But she was right. Oz had been ruled by men for too long, the Scarecrow was a literal straw-man, and it required the Princess Ozma catalyzed by Glinda and Jinjur, women all, to set things right. In bringing about this essential regime change was Jinjur a success, a failure, or a joke?

That was the end of General Jinjur but not of Jinjur herself. She appears in cameo and is mentioned in passing several more times in the Oz series. She is very quickly turned around to be an ally of Ozma and the throne. She becomes a particularly close friend of her adversary, the Scarecrow, who comes to trust her, and her alone, to repaint his face when his visage fades. What sort of woman rebels to "suit herself"? And what makes such a woman embrace her enemies when she, herself, is overthrown?

The Famous Women of Oz tells the story of Jinjur's birth and childhood, and of her revolt and its after-effects. It tells of the Lady Gayellette who watches the flailing of the hapless rulers, Pastoria and later the Wizard, knowing she may or may not have the means to oppose them. Then there is the Proficient Desdemene; you know her as the Wicked Witch of the East because of her opposition to a patriotic, but ill-conceived, war against neighboring Ev. Connecting them all is Magpie jon Gayel a passionate and intelligent young woman of breeding who experiences the defining moments of a history.