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It's Oprah's Birthday! Check Out These eBooks About Her

The Oprah Phenomenon: 

Her image is iconic: Oprah Winfrey has built an empire on her ability to connect with and inspire her audience. No longer just a name, "Oprah" has become a brand representing the talk show host's unique style of self-actualizing individualism. The cultural and economic power wielded by Winfrey merits critical evaluation. The contributors to The Oprah Phenomenon examine the origins of her public image and its substantial influence on politics, entertainment, and popular opinion. Contributors address praise from her many supporters and weigh criticisms from her detractors. Winfrey's ability to create a feeling of intimacy with her audience has long been cited as one of the foundations of her popularity. She has repeatedly made national headlines by engaging and informing her audience with respect to her personal relationships to race, gender, feminism, and New Age culture. The Oprah Phenomenon explores these relationships in detail. At the root of Winfrey's message to her vast audience is her assertion that anyone can be a success regardless of background or upbringing. The contributors scrutinize this message: What does this success entail? Is the motivation behind self-actualization, in fact, merely the hope of replicating Winfrey's purchasing power? Is it just a prescription to buy the products she recommends and heed the advice of people she admires, or is it a lifestyle change of meaningful spiritual benefit? The Oprah Phenomenon asks these and many other difficult questions to promote a greater understanding of Winfrey's influence on the American consciousness.

Oprah Winfrey Speaks : Insight from the World's Most Influential Voice:

"Oprah's on." It's the catchphrase that inspires millions around the world to tune in to one of the most trusted women in the history of television. Almost everyone follows Oprah's every move. One word about a book club selection sends an obscure first novel rocketing to the top of the bestseller list. Oprah Winfrey possesses what is arguably one of the world's most influential voices.
Alive with her unique warmth and insight, Oprah Winfrey Speaks reveals the mystique of Oprah in her own words. Drawing on hundreds of sources, Janet Lowe provides an evocative, personal portrait. Here are Oprah's opinions on everything from childhood and overcoming adversity to dealing with fame and staying real. Oprah Winfrey Speaks highlights Oprah's abiding faith, no-nonsense business rules, generosity, and love as well as her 10 commandments for lifelong success.  Oprah's lifetime theme has been personal transformation-she's constantly seeking, questioning, changing, and growing. This uplifting theme echoes throughout Oprah Winfrey Speaks.  Here is just a hint of the wisdom you'll discover:
* "Just tell the truth. It'll save you every time."
* "Don't complain about what you don't have. Use what you've got. To do less than your best is a sin. Every single one of us has the power for greatness, because greatness is determined by service-to yourself and to others."
* "I am a woman in progress. I'm just trying like everyone else. I try to take every conflict, every experience and learn from it. All I know is that I can't be anybody else. And it's taken me a long time to realize that."
* "If you're angry, be angry and deal with it. Don't go eat a bag of Ruffles."
* "God blesses you better when you pray on your knees."
The world listens when Oprah Winfrey Speaks.

Stories of Oprah : The Oprahfication of American Culture:
Stories of Oprah is a collection of essays that explores Oprah Winfrey's broad reach as an industry and media brand. Contributors analyze a number of topics touching on the ways in which her cultural output shapes contemporary America. The volume examines how Oprah has fashioned a persona―which emphasizes her rural, poverty-stricken roots over other factors―that helps her popularize her unique blend of New Age spirituality, neoliberal politics, and African American preaching. She packages New Age spirituality through the rhetoric of race, gender, and the black preacher tradition. Oprah's Book Club has reshaped literary publishing, bringing Toni Morrison, William Faulkner, and Cormac McCarthy to a broad number of readers. Her brand extends worldwide through the internet. In this volume writers analyze her positions on teen sexuality, gender, race, and politics, and the impact of Winfrey's confessional mode on mainstream television news.