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Conversations with RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law

Jeffrey Rosen

4.07 · Rating details · 28 ratings · 11 reviews

In her own words, Ruth Bader Ginsburg offers an intimate look at her life and career, through an extraordinary series of conversations with the head of the National Constitution Center.

This remarkable book presents a unique portrait of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, drawing on more than twenty years of conversations with Jeffrey Rosen, starting in the 1990s and continuing through the Tconversations ...more

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Hardcover, 272 pages

Published November 5th 2019 by Henry Holt & Company

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Start your review of Conversations with RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law

Oct 21, 2019 Barbara rated it really liked it

Ruth Bader Ginsberg

The book's author, Jeffrey Rosen, is an American scholar and law professor who's been called "the nation's most widely read and influential legal commentator."

Jeffrey Rosen

Rosen first met Ruth Bader Ginsberg in an elevator in 1991, when he was a law clerk and she was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Not knowing what to say, Rosen blurted out a question about what opera Ginsburg had seen recently, and they immediately bonded over their mutual love of opera.

Afterwards, when Rosen b ...more

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Oct 24, 2019 Toni rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019, non-fiction

An interesting introduction to work and life of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I liked the way the author chose to let the reader discover the opinions and hopes of this remarkable woman through her cases and her own words.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Henry Holt Co. for the review copy provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

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Nov 12, 2019 Moonkiszt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: aging-a-little-bit-older-and-deeper, fashion-style-bling-featured, feminine-divine-ish, its-all-about-choices, justice-finding-seeking-fighting-fo, learned_me, legal-eagles, lifestories-biography-autobiography, makingtheworldabetterplace-howto, music-is-key

Ruth Bader Ginsberg IS a treasure to this country, and a personal hero of mine, and all the millions of other roles she plays in the lives of strangers she doesn't even know - that's a spectacular mantle to wear, and she does it with panache!

Conversations with RGB is a treat. Each is introduced with the background to place the conversation in context, and then the recorded session transcribed for readers now and forever to slide our benches close in, lean forward and listen, or eaves ...more

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Oct 25, 2019 Donna Davis rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: feminists.

Shelves: 2019-ng-challenge, 2019-ng-group-challenge, blogged, drc-henry-holt, memoirs-biographies-autobio, nonfiction, net-galley, pol-sc, 5-stars-2019-publications, favorites

This is the RBG book I’ve been waiting for. My huge thanks go to Net Galley and Henry Holt Publishers for the review copy. This book will be publicly available November 5, 2019.

Justice Ginsburg wants us to know that the sky is not falling. Though progressive thinkers see great cause for concern, primarily within the executive branch of the federal government, the U.S. Constitution hasn’t changed, and the Supreme Court, she insists, is made up entirely of strong legal minds that revere it. Prece This is the RBG book I’ve been waiting for. My huge thanks go to Net Galley and Henry Holt Publishers for the review copy. This book will be publicly available November 5, 2019.

Justice Ginsburg wants us to know that the sky is not falling. Though progressive thinkers see great cause for concern, primarily within the executive branch of the federal government, the U.S. Constitution hasn’t changed, and the Supreme Court, she insists, is made up entirely of strong legal minds that revere it. Precedents are still the basis of future rulings; the overturn of precedent is rare and unusual. But for activists—and she loves us—she also points out that public opinion is what alters the course of the law. Congress makes laws based on what their constituency desires. So she isn’t suggesting we put away our pussy hats and our picket signs; she just wants us to know that our advocacy works, and she appreciates everything we do to further women’s rights, civil rights, and gay rights.

Twice previously I read other books about RBG; one is a popular biography that I enjoyed, but that didn’t go deeply enough into Ginsburg’s legal ideas, and the second is just dross, minutiae gathered from her high school year book and whatnot. Whereas part of me just wants her to write an autobiography, I have to recognize that she is very elderly, has faced health challenges lately, and to stand a chance of writing any sort of memoir, she’d probably have to resign from the Court. And goodness knows, I want her to stay there, ideally forever. Instead, Rosen’s series of interviews with this feminist icon serves nicely.

Rosen has been friends with Justice Ginsberg for many years; they were drawn together initially through elevator discussions of opera. His chapters are brief but meaty, organized around key rulings and topical interviews. Rosen explains succinctly at the outset how this friendship formed and grew, but he doesn’t get windy or use the opportunity to aggrandize himself. He keeps the focus strictly on his subject. The interviews flow in an agreeable manner that is literate without being verbose or Byzantine.

We live in politically polarized times, and so even when I am reading about a political figure that I admire, I generally expect my blood pressure to rise a little, perhaps in passionate agreement. But if anyone in this nation has the long view of history and the key domestic issues that have unfolded, particularly with regard to the rights of women, it is RBG. And although I am not as senior a citizen as Justice Ginsburg, many of the changes she mentions that have occurred over the decades are ones that I can also attest to, though I hadn’t thought of them in years. For example, when I came of age in the 1970s, it was still not unusual to try to enter a bar or club only to be barred at the doorway because women weren’t allowed inside. (“Gentlemen only, Ma’am. Sorry.”) I had forgotten about these things; as her recollections unspool I see that she is right. Change happens, but lasting change happens slowly. We are getting there, at least with regard to women’s rights and gay rights. Issues of race and class are something else entirely, and she points up specific instances where justice has not progressed and change is imperative.

I could say more, but none of it would be as wise or as articulate as when Ginsburg says it. If you’ve read this far in my review, you should go ahead and order this excellent book now. I highly recommend it to all that are interested in social justice, both formal and informal.
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Sep 15, 2019 Sarah-Hope rated it liked it

Shelves: 2019, netgalley

I'm going to open by saying I was disappointed by this book—but I'm hoping you'll keep reading this review and still consider it as a book you might enjoy.

The good news
• It's a delight to hear stories from Ruth Bader Ginsburg's life and career in her own words.
• The fact that this book is based on conversations makes the prose reader-friendly.
• The book offers a great introduction to the development of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's legal thinking over time.

The not so good ...more

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Oct 21, 2019 Rachel Noel rated it really liked it

*Free copy for an honest review

Like many people, I only really started paying attention to politics in the past few years. I knew that Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) was an important figure, but never really looked further into it. When she needed surgery and people were clamoring to offer their blood and organs, whatever she needed, I figured I should read up on her. Fortunately this book became available and I took the opportunity to educate myself. I'm very glad I did.

This is neither *Free copy for an honest review

Like many people, I only really started paying attention to politics in the past few years. I knew that Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) was an important figure, but never really looked further into it. When she needed surgery and people were clamoring to offer their blood and organs, whatever she needed, I figured I should read up on her. Fortunately this book became available and I took the opportunity to educate myself. I'm very glad I did.

This is neither a full biography nor a full case list. This has biographical elements but focuses on major past cases and how they influence current cases. It's also a lot of RBG discussing her hopes for the future. Honestly, the fact that she still has hope for the future does wonders for my overall anxiety about the world. She has an amazing approach to equal gender rights that she modeled off Thurgood Marshall's approach to equal rights for minorities. Incremental, showing those in power how these rules hurt them, and genuinely going for equality.

At first I was surprised to find someone who had promoted equality was subject to scorn from feminist groups. I took every chapter, every interview question on that, as a lesson in reading past the headlines. I think that should be the message with almost every Supreme Court Justice. It's so very easy to get caught up in the headlines and following the rage. But in this day and age, we need to do ourselves a favor and read more, get the full story, and reserve our torches and pitchforks for the truly important things. She criticized Roe v Wade because it was, essentially, a legislation forced to walk around on stilts with no training. She was correct in predicting this would lead to all of the many, many, many challenges it has received since. This was quite the legislative history lesson for me. I'll never go back.

RBG is truly an interesting character and her relationship with the other Justices is a wonderful example for disagreeing without it coming to blows. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and will be picking up more books about the Justices. 4 hoots! ...more

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Sep 01, 2019 Jackie rated it really liked it

Ruth Bader Ginsberg has become a very popular figure in our culture in the past few years. This book by Jeffrey Rosen has information, background and, most importantly, interviews with RBG. Justice Ginsberg reveals herself as a brilliant, thoughtful, and amazing person. She shows herself to be worthy of all the attention.

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Oct 16, 2019 Wendy rated it liked it

I received a free copy from Henry Holt and Co. through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Jeffrey Rosen's interviews with Ruth Bader Ginsburg are captured in Conversations with RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law and provide a sense of who Ginsburg is both inside and outside of the court. Considering that Rosen and Ginsburg have known each other since 1991, their friendship and deep respect come through in the text. Organized by theme, the reader gets a sense of how G ...more

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Nov 05, 2019 Basic B's Guide rated it really liked it

Conversations with RBG @henryholtbooks #partner

Grab a cup of coffee and settle in for a little chat with one of the most remarkable women of our time.

This book is not merely for liberals or supporters of RBG and her dissents. This book is for EVERYONE. I thoroughly enjoyed this insight into her life and career. What an extraordinary woman filled with compassion, love, wit, respectfulness and a passion to strive for equality. RBG gives me great hope for the future and is a ...more

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Oct 14, 2019 Nicole rated it liked it

DNF at 64% Too much repetition between the interviews and the author's notes about the interviews. The material and presentation was too dry.

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Sep 27, 2019 BookDrunkard rated it liked it

This was a little dry in my opinion. I wouldn't be running out to but it, even though I have a great fondness for RBG. It is well researched, but not my style.

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