E-book
Oprah [electronic resource] : a biography / Kitty Kelley.
Based on three years of research and reporting as well as 850 interviews with sources, many of whom have never before spoken for publication, Oprah is the first comprehensive biography of one of the most influential, powerful, and admired public figures of our time. Anyone who is a fan of Oprah Winfrey or who has followed her extraordinary life and career will be fascinated and newly informed by the closely observed, detailed, and well-rounded portrait of her provided by Kitty Kelley's exhaustively researched book. Readers will come away with a greater appreciation of who Oprah really is beyond her public persona and a fuller understanding of her important place in American cultural history.--From publisher description.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780307718778 (electronic bk. : Adobe EPUB)
- ISBN: 0307718778 (electronic bk. : Adobe EPUB)
- Physical Description: 1 online resource (524 p. : ill. (some col.), ports. (some col.))
- Edition: 1st ed.
- Publisher: New York : Crown, c2010.
Content descriptions
- General Note:
- Description based on print version record.
- Bibliography, etc. Note:
- Includes filmography and other credits (p. [447]-450).Includes bibliographical references (p. [451]-498) and index.
- System Details Note:
- Requires OverDrive Media ConsoleRequires Adobe Digital Editions (file size: 6757 KB).
Search for related items by subject
- Subject:
- Winfrey, Oprah.
Television personalities > United States > Biography.
Actors > United States > Biography. - Genre:
- EBOOK.
Electronic books.
Other Formats and Editions
Electronic resources
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2010 May #2
Kitty Kelley couldn't find very many people who like Oprah. Astonishingly, almost everyone she interviewed seems to have a bone to pick with the talk-show host, even Oprah's cousin and father (who might not be her father, after all). Of course, many of those people haven't seen Oprah in a long time; take the insulted woman who threw her a good-bye party when she left her first television job: "That was the last I saw of Oprah . . . she divorced herself from Nashville." Even when Oprah does something thoughtful, like return to Baltimore to spend time with a dying former coworker, she gets bashed for not attending the retirement party of another. As in her previous biographies, Kelley follows a predictable pattern. She gathers lots of information via published articles, on-the-record interviews (often with bit players), and anonymous quotes from those who may or may not be well connected. (Moreover, even the identified quotes are difficult to track in the massive list of source material in each chapter.) She then writes, in rather clunky prose, about her subject, twisting the story to prove her thesisâin this case that, yes, Oprah is a spinmeister and a controlling one at that. Though Oprah's many achievements and her charitable work are lauded, there's usually a but following each positive statement, as Kelley attempts to show again and again that Winfrey's generosity is often self-serving. Typically, Kelley's biographies feature one juicy story that everyone seems to remember. Laura Bush sold dope in college. Nancy Reagan and Frank Sinatra had an affair. Unfortunately, Oprah seems sadly to lack that signature take-away anecdote. She had an affair with John Tesh? She once ate two pecan pies? No staying power there. Perhaps readers will have to be satisfied with the fact that Oprah's father called her best-friend Gayle King a "dirt hog." And that's on the record. Copyright 2009 Booklist Reviews.