I read the advance reading copy of this book and it will be published on June 4, 2019. Undoubtedly there will be some differences between the version I read and the published edition.
That being said, if you live in the United States, you've probably already heard something about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She's a justice on the supreme court and a very fascinating person.
An amazon summary, "The life and career of the fiercely principled Supreme Court Justice, now a popular icon, with dramatic accounts of her landmark cases that moved the needle on legal protection of human rights, illustrated with b/w archival photographs.
Dramatically narrated case histories from Justice Ginsburg's stellar career are interwoven with an account of RBG’s life—childhood, family, beliefs, education, marriage, legal and judicial career, children, and achievements—and her many-faceted personality is captured. The cases described, many involving young people, demonstrate her passionate concern for gender equality, fairness, and our constitutional rights. Notes, bibliography, index." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE
Since this is a biographical book, I don't think it'd make a lot of sense to talk about a book summary, but instead in the way the information is presented. To my understanding, there has been a few books published about Ruth Bader Ginsburg in recent years (notably, The Notorious RBG and Ruth's book My Own Words). I'm sure there are more, but I'm not here to talk about those books...so nyeh.
Anywho. This book spoke more about individual cases that Ruth has been involved with over the years, while directly relating those cases to experiences that Ruth had throughout her life and why she made the decisions towards the cases that she did. It did get to a point where quite a few chapters had this kind of sandwich formula; Intro about case & some history about person with case, history from Ruth's life that is mostly relevant to the case, outcome of case. Case (closed) sandwich, hehe.
I think it would have been a little more interesting to read about her current views, then dive back into how those may have come to be, with cases as supporting evidence. I also wanted to see some of the more personal stories (like someone once told me a story about the white ruffles she wears around her neck (which I don't know the name of, what is fashion) and I was kind of hoping this book would have that fact could confirm/deny it. It did not).
I also wanted to hear more of Ruth's voice throughout the book. I feel a large part of the story was told by the people surrounding Ruth, but I think more would have resonated from Ruth too. ...basically, this book feels like a stepping stone to reading more books about Ruth, rather than a complete book on Ruth.
Plus, for a book titled Dissenter on the Bench, I kind of wanted to see more stories about HOW she was a dissenter. Like in general against the regular/standard view points of society, dissenter from how her peers viewed the case, or like....what? I also would have loved to see more on the story of how she came to be a justice of the supreme court. A few stories that felt like they would have been good to explore, were really glossed over. ...maybe they're in one of the other books... hmm...
Overall, I think it was a good introduction to who Ruth Bader Ginsburg is, but I don't think it really tells the complete story.
Happy reading!
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