ABSTRACT

Over the last two decades Oprah Winfrey's journey has taken her from talk show queen to-as Time Magazine has asserted-"one of the most important figures in popular culture." Through her talk show, magazine, website, seminars, charity work, and public appearances, her influence in the social, economic, and political arenas of American life is considerable and until now, largely unexamined. In The Age of Oprah, media scholar and journalist Janice Peck traces Winfrey's growing cultural impact and illustrates the fascinating parallels between her road to fame and fortune and the political-economic rise of neoliberalism in this country. While seeking to understand Oprah's ascent to the near- iconic status that she enjoys today, Peck's book provides a fascinating window into the intersection of American politics and culture over the past quarter century.

chapter |13 pages

The Age of Oprah

Culture and Politics in the Neoliberal Era

chapter |34 pages

Recovery and Reaganism

The Psychologization of the Political and the Politics of Pathology

chapter |40 pages

“Transcending Race”

The Racial Politics of Oprah Winfrey and New Liberalism