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

Jeffrey Rosen

4.06 · Rating details · 96 ratings · 26 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 ...more

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Hardcover, 272 pages

Published November 5th 2019 by Henry Holt & Company

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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 ...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 eavesdrop maybe. ...more

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

Recommends it for: feminists.

Shelves: blogged, drc-henry-holt, memoirs-biographies-autobio, nonfiction, net-galley, pol-sc, favorites, history, womens-studies, primary-sources

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. 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.
...more

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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 news
• If you've followed Ruth ...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 a full *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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Dec 12, 2019 Katherine "Kj" Joslin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019-rrdecember

The way the data is formatted makes the chapters very repetitive but I love hearing all about RBG and her cases. I enjoyed it a ton.

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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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Nov 23, 2019 Preeti rated it really liked it

This book is a great introduction to Ruth Bader Ginsburg but it may not provide any new information for fans that have followed her career since the beginning. I only recently watched her documentaries on Netflix so I had some knowledge of RBG already and this book served as a great addition.

In the book we get a rundown of her landmark cases, her thoughts on marriage, the cases she would overturn as well as her thoughts on the #metoo movement and so much more. It reads like a biography with ...more

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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 ...more

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Dec 06, 2019 Jeimy rated it really liked it

Because I love reading about RBG, I enjoyed reading this book. However, because I have read so many books about RBG, this one offered no new insights to the Supreme Court Justice's life and work. The reason why I gave the book 4 stars is because it is a bit repetitive--the introductions give away key moments of each interview so that by the time you read the interview it is almost as if you have read the same thing twice.

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Dec 04, 2019 Tzipora rated it it was ok

Shelves: biography-and-memoir, history, judaica, nonfiction, political, priority-stuff-to-read-soon, to-buy, us-politics, netgalley, own

I adore Ruth Bader Ginsburg and wanted to love this book. In fact, I thought I wanted to buy it but am glad I ended up getting access to it through Net Galley because I would’ve been upset to have spent my money on this. I think it would’ve been a nice coffee table type book of RBG interviews and quotes. Or it could’ve been a nice introduction to her, her gender discrimination cases, experiences on the Supreme Court, and thoughts and views. Unfortunately, this book is a bit of a mess that needed I adore Ruth Bader Ginsburg and wanted to love this book. In fact, I thought I wanted to buy it but am glad I ended up getting access to it through Net Galley because I would’ve been upset to have spent my money on this. I think it would’ve been a nice coffee table type book of RBG interviews and quotes. Or it could’ve been a nice introduction to her, her gender discrimination cases, experiences on the Supreme Court, and thoughts and views. Unfortunately, this book is a bit of a mess that needed to be edited or co stricter much differently.

The author, a prominent legal scholar and journalist, ended up befriending Ginsburg back when he was a clerk on the US Court of Appeals and she was a judge there. They bonded over a love of opera and when she was nominated for the Supreme Court by President Clinton a few years later, Rosen was then writing for the New Republic and it was a piece by him that helped sway public and congressional opinion for RBG, both before her official nomination and during the congressional hearing to approve her nomination. So Rosen was in a very unique position to be writing this book. In fact, I’m positive he could’ve written an excellent book on RBG, but unfortunately this isn’t that.

I wonder if this book would’ve been better as a biography with the addition perhaps of some of Rosen’s personal experiences and interviews with her. Or the coffee table book idea I mentioned. Instead it’s kind of a mashup of both and that’s it’s greatest failing. Chapters are split up into themes such as Roe vs Wade, the #MeToo movement, famous dissents, cases Ruth would like overturned, etc. There are transcripts from several interviews Rosen had with Ruth and because of the way they’re organized by topic and that these are sections from more than one interview, things get repetitive. But worse still, before each interview section, Rosen writes an introduction explaining various things, the history, how the Supreme Court works, etc. In a way, I enjoyed this. It gives context to some of what comes up in the interview. The only problem is, this intro often ends up summarizing everything that comes after it in chapter. He repeatedly quoted or expounds on RBG’s views so a few minutes later when you’re reading the interview it’s a repeat of what you’ve just read but this time in Ruth’s own words. This bother me much more, I think, than seeing a few things get repeated from one chapter to the next (an issue other reviewers have called out as well). I could’ve handled some repetition in that sense. It’s also why I think the interview transcripts would’ve made a nice coffee table book to pick up and read parts of at different times. But to see things repeated on the same chapter or have the introduction to each chapter make the interviews almost pointless was frustrating.

I like the introductions and background info Rosen gives in each chapter though. I also like and enjoyed highlighting Ruth’s own words. But I feel these could’ve been integrated better, perhaps? Or this almost could’ve been two different books but does not work well as is.

I’ve also seen or read parts of these prominent interviews before as I’m sure other RBG fans have as well. This book might make a nice introduction for someone looking to know more about RBG but for longtime fans or more legally and politically minded folks, unfortunately there isn’t really anything new to learn here that I haven’t heard or seen covered elsewhere. I think the interview transcripts still would’ve made a nice addition to the collection of fans or people with an interest in US law and politics or the chapter intros could’ve been extended or worked through better to make a fantastic intro to RBG. I guess this book suffers from not knowing just what it wants to be. I’m kind of surprised it got published and unfortunately thing the combination of Ruth’s popularity and the author’s background is why. This could’ve been a nice gift book for the holidays for one or the other groups I mentioned above but I can’t really recommend it.

I’m still glad I got the chance to read it and value having a collection of Ruth’s own words by category (so perhaps as a reference type piece) but it could’ve been so much than what it ended up being. ...more

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Dec 10, 2019 Jessica rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-star

Jeffrey Rosen had a chance encounter with Ruth Bader Ginsburg when they were both working on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. That encounter turned into a genuine friendship and over the years Rosen and Ginsburg discussed all kinds of personal and professional issues. This book is a collection of their conversations divided into topics like "Her Landmark Cases" and "Marriage Between Equals." The book is unique in that these conversations are between friends and Jeffrey Rosen had a chance encounter with Ruth Bader Ginsburg when they were both working on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. That encounter turned into a genuine friendship and over the years Rosen and Ginsburg discussed all kinds of personal and professional issues. This book is a collection of their conversations divided into topics like "Her Landmark Cases" and "Marriage Between Equals." The book is unique in that these conversations are between friends and colleagues, not just an interview with a semi-stranger. Each chapter has a few pages of Rosen writing about the topic of that chapter, the the second half of the chapter is an interview style between Rosen and Ginsburg. It's a pretty quick read, but it does give you a lot of insight into not only Ginsburg, but the Supreme Court and it's inner workings. It was really a very interesting book and I would highly recommend it.

Some quotes I liked:

[In an interview for The Docket Sheet, a newsletter for Court employees] "...asked her why she had agreed to a flexible schedule for one of her law clerks, David Post. Ginsburg replied that when Post applied for a clerkship, he was caring for his two small children during the day, so that his wife could sustain a demanding job as an economist. 'I thought, 'This is my dream of the way the world should be,' ' Ginsburg enthused. 'When fathers take equal responsibility for the care of their children, that's when women will be truly liberated.'" (p. 13)

"As co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union's Women's Rights Project, Ruth Bader Ginsburg sought from 1972 to 1980 to persuade the Supreme Court that legislation apparently designed to benefit or protect women could often have the opposite effect. For this reason, she chose to represent a series of male plaintiffs who had been denied legal benefits designed for women. This visionary strategy forced the Court to articulate a standard of scrutiny for gender discrimination that could be applied neutrally to either sex...She represented plaintiffs with whom the male judges of the 1970s were most likely to identify." (p. 19-20)

"It was not so long ago that most of the social clubs in New York and Washington, DC, were men only. So whenever I was asked to speak at those clubs, I said, 'I'm not going to speak at a place that wouldn't welcome me as a member.'...My first encounter with men-only social clubs happened when my husband was working for a law firm in New York. The firm had a holiday party at a club that did not admit women. The women associates let it be known that that was improper. They weren't listened to. So the next year, none of the women associates showed up at the holiday party. The year after that, the holiday party was held at a place that welcomed women as well as men." (p. 128)

"We have in DC the first person to be given flexible time at a law firm. It was at Arnold and Porter, and the woman is Brooksley Born. When her second child was born, she elected to have a three-day schedule. She was told, 'That's okay, but you'll never make partner.' It turned out that she produced more in three days than the average associate produced in a full week, so she became the first full-time [female] partner...[what feminism still needs to work on] The two big areas are unconscious bias and what is called work-life balance. If we could fix those two, we would see women all over doing everything. Unconscious bias and facilitating a work life and a family life." (p. 207-8) ...more

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Dec 11, 2019 Cozy Cat Reviews rated it it was amazing

Thank you with gratitude to the publisher, the author and to Net Galley for this extraordinary opportunity to review this exemplary body of work. My review opinion is my own.
I highly recommend this book for your reading enjoyment of one of America's most brilliant legal minds.

I appreciate that the author has known RBG for several years and that this was a mutual agreed upon project by both of them. The author has complied a series of conversations with her that vary from Patriotism, to the ...more

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Dec 01, 2019 Mary rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019, finished

This book is made up of interviews between Justice Ginsburg and Jeffrey Rosen. The conversations between the two cover her personal life, lifetime of work, hopes for the future of The Court, as well as her love of music.

Reading the back and forth between RBG and Rosen, one can sense the friendship and mutual respect the two have for each other. This book feels like you are sitting in a coffee catchup with two old friends.

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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 an amazing inspiration.

“I ...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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Dec 08, 2019 Cassie rated it liked it

I was excited by the concept, and it was nice to have things in the Justice's own words, but it was quite repetitive--especially for such a short book.

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Nov 21, 2019 Kathy rated it really liked it

Informative, well-written mix of background and conversation.

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Nov 29, 2019 Cheyenne rated it really liked it

#NonfictionNovember2019

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Nov 24, 2019 Mary Gearing rated it liked it

Shelves: 2019, non-fiction

As other reviewers have mentioned, there's not much new information in this book. It also gets very repetitive towards the end.

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Dec 06, 2019 Karolyn rated it it was ok

Very repetitive

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Dec 04, 2019 Margot rated it it was amazing

This book was so worth reading! I appreciated hearing from this former ACLU lawyer particularly about the history of the women’s movement. I’ll be reading (listening to) this book many times.

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