Synopses & Reviews
"Cesar Chavez treated religion as he treated so many topics of importance in his life: as something to be willed into contribution to a higher good. This volume describes with poignant specificity the strategies of spiritual hybridization that assured Chavez's iconic persistence. Luis Leand#243;n has written a book equal in grace, compassion, and subtlety to its subject."and#151;Kathryn Lofton, Professor of Religious Studies, American Studies, History, and Divinity at Yale University
"Leand#243;n offers a powerful new interpretation of the life and work of Cesar Chavez that more fully accounts for Chavezand#8217;s religious appeal and spiritual movement building. Leand#243;n crafts a new story, a nepantla story, of Chavez the human, civil, and labor rights movement leader whose social justice work fused with his ecumenical religious perspective in what Leand#243;n aptly terms his 'political spirituality.' This vital new insight on Chavezand#8217;s spiritual and humanist work will serve scholars in many fields."and#151;Theresa Delgadillo, Associate Professor of Comparative Studies and Latino/a Studies at Ohio State University
"This impressive new book is a project in radical optics. Herein Leand#243;n asks us to put aside for a moment our understanding of Chavez the labor unionizer who brought better wages and work conditions to Californiaand#8217;s farmworkers, and to focus more sharply on the spiritual man who drew on a number of ecumenical religious traditions to dignify human life. Studying Chavezand#8217;s spirituality, his ritual practicesand#151;fasting, public prayers, penitential pilgrimagesand#151;and the sources of his prophetic vision, we gain a richer understanding of the complexity of Chavezand#8217;s humanism and his impact in creating communities more nurturing and tolerant of difference."and#151;Ramand#243;n A. Gutiand#233;rrez, Preston and Sterling Morton Distinguished Service Professor of American History and the College at the University of Chicago
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“A fascinating study of the modern-day deitys 25 years as the worlds most beloved BFF, exhaustively researched and elegantly considered. Buy it for the smartest Oprah fan you know.”
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“A fascinating new perspective on a media icon.”
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“Budding and active scholars of cultural, popular, and religious studies will read with interest.”
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“If you read it [Oprah], you won't think about the connection between religion and consumer culture the same way again.”
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“A unique analysis of the talk queens multimedia empire.”
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“Makes a powerful case for viewing Oprah as a significant moment in religious culture.”
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“Tantalizing.”
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“[Loftons] authorial voice is, by turns, instructing, funny, ironic, snide, brilliantly analytical, undeniably astute . . . and feisty.”
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“Loftons careful and engaging work is sure to warrant responses. How wonderful that this book is the one to set the stage.”
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“Vitally important, both as an addition to cultural studies in general, and a challenge to the question of how to study American religion. Not only does she break new ground in thoughtful cultural analysis of a complicated American icon, she helps to solidify the potential for a new category of interdisciplinary religious studies scholarship.”
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"Thoroughly researches, engagingly written, deftly weaving together major currents of US religious and cultural history, Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon will hold great interest for students and scholars in religious studies, American studies, and media and cultural studies, but Winfrey's fans may also enjoy this lively exegesis of their heroine."
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"Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon is an important addition to the study of religion in America because it takes into account the religious impact of popular media. . . . What Lofton is advocating is that popular culture contains within it people and performances that shape religion in America."
Synopsis
The Political Spirituality of Cesar Chavez: Crossing Religious Borders maps and challenges many of the mythologies that surround the late iconic labor leader. Focusing on Chavez's own writings, Leand#243;n argues that La Causa can be fruitfully understood as a quasi-religious movement based on Chavezand#8217;s charismatic leadership, which he modeled after Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi. Chavez recognized that spiritual prophecy, or political spirituality, was the key to disrupting centuries-old dehumanizing narratives that conflated religion with race. Chavezand#8217;s body became emblematic for Chicano identity and enfleshed a living revolution. While there is much debate and truth-seeking around how he is remembered, through investigating the leaderand#8217;s construction of his own public memory, the author probes the meaning of the discrepancies. By refocusing Chavez's life and beliefs into three broad movementsand#151;mythology, prophecy, and religionand#151;Leand#243;n brings us a moral and spiritual agent to match the political leader.
Synopsis
Today on Oprah,” intoned the TV announcer, and all over America viewers tuned in to learn, empathize, and celebrate. In this book, Kathryn Lofton investigates the Oprah phenomenon and finds in Winfreys empireHarpo Productions, O Magazine, and her new television networkan uncanny reflection of religion in modern society. Lofton shows that when Oprah liked, needed, or believed something, she offered her audience nothing less than spiritual revolution, reinforced by practices that fuse consumer behavior, celebrity ambition, and religious idiom. In short, Oprah Winfrey is a media messiah for a secular age. Loftons unique approach also situates the Oprah enterprise culturally, illuminating how Winfrey reflects and continues historical patterns of American religions.
Synopsis
"Better than celebrity biographer Kitty Kelley, Kathryn Lofton exposes Oprah's secretthe religious resonance of her persona in popular culture. Brilliantly orchestrated, full of ah-ha and light-bulb moments,
Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon takes us into the mediated spirituality, collective rituals, and everyday epiphanies of being Oprah and being in Oprah's world. If you are looking for sensationalism and scandal, read this book and find a sensational, substantial, and insightful analysis of religion and American popular culture."David Chidester, author of
Authentic Fakes: Religion and American Popular CultureLofton manages a rare feat. This book shakes and awakens our minds, compelling us to interpret and make sense of a multifaceted woman who has become a consumer and cultural phenomenon unprecedented in American and world history.”--Eva Illouz, author of Oprah Winfrey and the Glamour of Misery: An Essay on Popular Culture
"Lofton's Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon defies categorization, offering a brilliantly creative way to explore what religion is and where we look to find it. It's all herefashion, celebrity, media, glamour, and spirituality, an analysis of the world that produced Oprah as well as the world that Oprah produces."J. Terry Todd, Director, Center on Religion, Culture and Conflict, Drew University
"Lofton brilliantly analyzes the Oprah phenomenon in religio-historical context. Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon provides a new way of understanding how Oprah operates as a preacher and as a missionary in spite of the presumed secularity of her enterprises, and shows how her world successfully intertwines commerce and religion. It is a truly outstanding work."Cynthia Eller, Montclair State University
About the Author
Luis D. Leand#243;n is Associate Professor in the department of Religious Studies at the University of Denver and author of La Llorona's Children: Religion, Life, and Death in the U.S.-Mexican Borderlands.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
(Re)Introduction. Enfleshment: Cesarand#8217;s Body
1. Mythology: Think Different
2. Prophecy: In the Path of Gandhi and Martin Luther King
3. Religion: A Revolutionary Spirit
Conclusion. The Lost Gospel: and#147;God Help Us to Be Men!and#8221;
Notes
Index