Oprah Winfrey, who began her career as a Midwest talk show host in 1985, wielded such clout in the entertainment field at the end of the twentieth century that her participation in a project guaranteed its success. Her strong identification with her audience could be witnessed again and again; when she did something as simple as starting a diet, or as complex as taking a stand against social injustice, millions of people across the United States followed suit. Yet, her considerable influence was neither happenstance nor opportunism. Her social and political views came from a lifetime of struggle that has imbued her with a missionary zeal to get her message across.

Oprah Winfrey

The television persona of "Oprah" is virtually inseparable from the person herself. She was born into poverty in 1954 in rural Mississippi and then spent many of her formative years living in a...