We know that truth is stranger than fiction, and fiction is often influenced by real-world events, because otherwise all our stories would be a simple fight between good and evil where a random farm boy kills the evil emperor or else a prince saves a pretty girl from the the big bad wolf. Some of the most beloved fictional worlds capture our imaginations with strange places, characters, and customs, but also follow some events from history. In a couple, the author admits being influenced by world events, while others are argued over to the point where we don't know if the analogy is intentional or coincidence. And those tie-ins have faded with time.
Five of those novels are: The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en, Dune by Frank Herbert, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The story of Dorothy visiting Oz is very involved, and may be an analogy for the "free silver" debate of 1896. There are an awful lot of clues that tie Oz to this obscure piece of American history, but it could be a matter of attaching meaning to a series of coincidences, like a conspiracy theorist with a wall full of pictures. Or Baum really could have used "free silver" as an inspiration. Read how all of these stories reflect real world events at Big Think.
(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)