John Kendrick Bangs

Alice in Blunderland (1907) by John Kendrick Bangs

Alice in Blunderland: An Iridescent Dream is a novel by John Kendrick Bangs. It was first published in 1907 by Doubleday, Page & Co. of New York, with illustrations by Albert Levering. It is a political parody of the two Alice books by Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. It is critical of economic issues such as taxation, corporate greed, and corruption. Instead of entering Wonderland, Alice finds herself in "Blunderland", which is also described as "Municipal Ownership Country". The book features line drawings by Albert Levering 1869-1929), after the original Alice illustrations by John Tenniel. In 1902, Bangs had written a book inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, called Rollo in Emblemland. Part of Alice in Blunderland was previously published as "Alice in Municipaland" in Concerning Municipal Ownership, vol. 1 no. 10 (December 1906), pp. 182-87 (perhaps the first chapter of the book