Archie Bunker for President - by Oscar Winberg (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Delving into the intersection of television entertainment and American politics during the 1970s, focusing on the sitcom All in the Family, this book explores how political campaigns, social movements, and legislators leveraged the show's popularity for their own agendas. From Archie Bunker's reactionary bigotry, to Edith Bunker's symbolic role in the Equal Rights Amendment campaign, and the show's creator and producer Norman Lear's defiance against government censorship, Oscar Winberg uncovers the profound impact of television on political strategies and institutions. Oscar Winberg's capacious research, including in Norman Lear's private archive, shows how All in the Family set the stage for today's spectacle politics. It also reveals how politicians, from Richard Nixon to Hillary Rodham Clinton, skillfully utilized entertainment television to connect with audiences, demonstrating the evolution of personality politics that culminated in the political rise of Donald Trump. With a keen focus on the transformative power of television entertainment, this multifaceted history expands the discussion on the interconnected roles of media and politics, offering a new exploration into how one television show produced a profound cultural shift in American politics"--

Book Synopsis

Delving into the intersection of television entertainment and American politics during the 1970s, focusing on the sitcom All in the Family, this book explores how political campaigns, social movements, and legislators leveraged the show's popularity for their own agendas. From Archie Bunker's reactionary bigotry, to Edith Bunker's symbolic role in the Equal Rights Amendment campaign, and the show's creator and producer Norman Lear's defiance against government censorship, Oscar Winberg uncovers the profound impact of television on political strategies and institutions.

Oscar Winberg's capacious research, including in Norman Lear's private archive, shows how All in the Family set the stage for today's spectacle politics. It also reveals how politicians, from Richard Nixon to Hillary Rodham Clinton, skillfully utilized entertainment television to connect with audiences, demonstrating the evolution of personality politics that culminated in the political rise of Donald Trump. With a keen focus on the transformative power of television entertainment, this multifaceted history expands the discussion on the interconnected roles of media and politics, offering a new exploration into how one television show produced a profound cultural shift in American politics.

Review Quotes

"Exceptionally well-researched, this book highlights the transformative ways that entertainment television has intersected with, shaped, and influenced US political history."--Allison Perlman, author of Public Interests: Media Advocacy and Struggles Over US Television

"In this original and engaging study, Oscar Winberg reexamines the landmark 1970s sitcom All in the Family, revealing how it reshaped the relationship between television and American politics. Drawing a compelling line from the show's cultural influence to the rise of Donald Trump, Winberg offers a fresh perspective on media, power, and popular culture."--John Chappell, Webster University

"In this well-written book, Oscar Winberg shows how politics remade television in 1970s America and how, in turn, television remade politics." -- Kevin M. Kruse, author of One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America

About the Author

Oscar Winberg is a postdoctoral fellow at the Turku Institute for Advanced Studies and the John Morton Center for North American Studies at the University of Turku.