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 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.

Offers a political history of a major public figure who has presented herself as outside or above politics, at a time when she has for the first time endorsed a presidential candidate Presents an unusually provocative analysis of Winfrey and her place in contemporary culture and politics Takes an intriguing look at how politics and popular culture interact Offers a richly detailed explanation for the power of Winfrey’s appeal and her rise to cultural icon for mainstream America Provocatively analyzes American race relations by challenging the typical view of Winfrey’s “transcendence of race”a rich analysis of what might seem a “fluffy” subject Takes readers on a fascinating tour through some of the major currents in American political, cultural, and religious thought