NATIONAL BESTSELLERA vivid account of a remarkable life. The Washington PostIn this comprehensive, revelatory biographyfifteen years of interviews and research in the makinghistorian Jane Sherron De Hart explores the central experiences that crucially shaped Ginsburgs passion for justice, her advocacy for gender equality, and her meticulous jurisprudence. At the heart of her story and abiding beliefs is her Jewish background, specifically the concept of tikkun olam, the Hebrew injunction to repair the world, with its profound meaning for a young girl who grew up during the Holocaust and World War II. Ruths journey begins with her mother, who died tragically young but whose intellect inspired her daughters feminism. It stretches from Ruths days as a baton twirler at Brooklyns James Madison High School to Cornell University to Harvard and Columbia Law Schools; to becoming one of the first female law professors in the country and having to fight for equal pay and hide her second pregnancy to avoid losing her job; to becoming the director of the ACLUs Womens Rights Project and arguing momentous anti sex discrimination cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. All this, even before being nominated in 1993 to become the second woman on the Court, where her crucial decisions and dissents are still making history. Intimately, personably told, this biography offers unprecedented insight into a pioneering life and legal career whose profound mark on American jurisprudence, American society, and our American character and spirit will reverberate deep into the twenty first century and beyond.REVISED AND UPDATED WITH A NEW AFTERWORD
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A LifeI should have researched this biography enough to learn that it is Unauthorized. The author has minimal insight into her subject Ruth Nader Ginsburg and gives to the reader a work akin to hero worship than serious analysis of the private person; instead it reads like one list of admirable accomplishment. Yes, RBG is admirable; a legend of of the best in American jurisprudence, rendering and writing thoughtful, measured, decisions and dissents without legislating from the bench. Her intelligence, education, common sense, political impartiality, and wisdom are the traits I would hope to find in every Supreme Court Justice. Sadly, we are living in a new and very different era than when she came of age.That being said, no one is perfect. And the author paints a picture of a perfect person. Surely, at some point in her life, Ginsburg disappointed her parents, fought with her husband, embarrassed or hurt the feelings of children, had an argument with a friend, lost her temper? She is, after all, a human being. But we get no information of that kind which would help to draw a picture of Ginsburg as full person. A good biographer explores her subject's flaws as well as her merits.The author does an admirable job of detailing the chronology of Ginsburg's life and accomplishments, though too often using over long and complicated sentence structure; sometimes a single sentence may include five or six indepent and dependent clauses; she rarely makes use of a semi colon. Reading this work was slog for me. I finished the book for the information it contained, not because I derived any pleasure from its prose. Three Stars 1984897837 An excellent book! Beginning with her childhood and the tragic death of her mother, this book traces the development of RBG's pursuit of equality and justice. Her early experiences and the guidance of her mother to be than what was expected of a young Jewish girl established the precedents that would lead the future Justice to a life dedicated to seeing that all people, regardless of race, class, or gender, received equal treatment under the law. This book takes us through her early years, the challenges she faced in college and her pursuit of a career, through her days with the ACLU, and, eventually, to the Supreme Court. Detailed, well researched, and worth your time. 1984897837
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a great read 1984897837 Unfortunately the typeface is very small and having trouble absorbing all the information therefore not an easy read 1984897837 Es wurde leider ein Exemplar geliefert, das wie ein Mängelexemplar aussah. Der Buchblock der Seiten war miserabel geschnitten, völlig ungleichmäßig, als seien die Seiten mit einem Küchenmesser auseinander geschnitten worden. Es sollte ein Geschenk sein. Dafür war dies Exemplar völlig ungeeignet. 1984897837 I gave it as a gift to a student of law studying in the UK. She loved it! I didn't read it myself. 1984897837 This is a quite remarkable bio of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. One remarkable aspect is the mere size of the book nearly 700 pages of text and notes. And this is important, because the author can go into very extensive detail on whatever facet of RBG's life is under examination. So often books on the Justice zip through her important cases as a litigator in an almost superficial manner. Not here; the author analyzes what gave rise to each case, what Ginsburg's strategy was, how she designed her briefs and oral arguments, and how the Justices reacted to her presentations. It is almost like looking over her shoulder as the cases unfold.In addition the book is remarkable because it also constitutes a feminist legal history of the 1970's to the present. This is because RBG made so much of that history herself before she became a judge on the D.C. Circuit and Justice on the Supreme Court. The author is a distinguished emerita professor of history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she concentrates on feminist legal history, Gender Issues, and Women's History. So the reader really gets a very helpful dose of these subjects as the biography unfolds. Finally, the book is somewhat unique in emphasizing the key role in Ginsburg's development of values and perspectives from her growing up Jewish in Brooklyn, which shaped her entire life.Several other aspects also stand out. The author's treatment of RBG's period as head of the ACLU's Women's Rights Project, while a Columbia law professor, demonstrates Ginsburg as the master strategist, figuring in what order test cases should be litigated to develop the most impact. Unlike Thurgood Marshall when he was litigating for the NAACP, and was the big kahuna who directed most of the cases, RGB had a range of other groups and litigators whom she had to try and coordinate into a meaningful strategy. The book also demonstrates how campaigns are organized to secure Court of Appeals and Supreme Court nominations. This discussion highlights the happy relationship Ginsburg had with her tax expert spouse Marty (as we in DC referred to him), who participated in gaining particularly the Clinton Supreme Court nomination for her.The author (a non lawyer) does a solid job on looking at Ginsburg's work as a judge. I must say though that RBG's 13 years on the DC Circuit are not in my opinion sufficiently developed, with the exception of the role she played in bringing both the liberal and republican factions together despite their deep divisions. The author does a much grander job on her Supreme Court decisions. Particularly outstanding is her discussion of the Virginia Military Institute case which probes every aspect. Intra court dynamics are also examined during both the Rehnquist and Roberts courts. A number of key cases are examined, including the Violence Against Women Act case, Bush v. Gore, the Voting Rights Act litigation, and the impact of the Ledbetter dissent which produced Congressional legislation. The important interplay between affirmative action and Ginsburg's perpetual unsuccessful efforts to get the Court to adopt a strict standard under the equal protection clause in sex discrimination cases was something the author illuminates which I had not been aware of.The author wraps up with the 2016 term, by which point Ginsburg is the senior associate justice and the leader of the opposition to the conservative majority on the Court. The challenges posed by the Trump administration as regards immigration, as well as the Gorsuch appointment mean that RBG can never relax her vigilance to do what she feels is right. At 84, it is apparent her many years of service have at times been exhausting, but she always bounces back. Let's hope that continues.An outstanding effort and essential resource for anyone interested in Ginsburg or the Supreme Court. 110 pages of notes support the text and are extremely detailed; read them along with the discussion to which they refer. Also, 93 excellent photos are sprinkled throughout the text adding insight. The bibliography contains references to author interviews, archival sources, case summaries and journal articles and books. And once again Knopf has turned to Berryville Graphics in Virginia to do their usual outstanding job in printing the book. A winning achievement all around. 1984897837
