Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Hardcover

Carmon, Irin; Knizhnik, Shana

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062415832 ISBN 13: 9780062415837

Publisher: Dey Street Books, 2015

Synopsis

Irin Carmon: I heard you can do 20 pushups. Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Yes, but we do ten at a time. And then I breathe for a bit and do the second set. Nearly a half-century into being a feminist and legal pioneer, something funny happened to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: the octogenarian won the internet. Across America, people who weren t even born when Ginsburg made her name are tattooing themselves with her face, setting her famously searing dissents to music, and making viral videos in tribute. In a class of its own, and much to Ginsburg s own amusement, is the Notorious RBG Tumblr, which juxtaposes the diminutive but fierce Jewish grandmother with the 350-pound rapper featuring original artwork submitted from around the world. Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg offers a visually rich, intimate, unprecedented look at the Justice and how she changed the world. From Ginsburg s refusal to let the slammed doors of sexism stop her to her innovative legal work, from her before-its-time feminist marriage to her perch on the nation s highest court with the fierce dissents to match get to know RBG as never before. As the country struggles with the unfinished business of gender equality and civil rights, Ginsburg stands as a testament to how far we can come with a little chutzpah.

About this title

Review

“The authors make this unassuming, most studious woman come pulsing to life....’Notorious RBG’ may be a playful project, but it asks to be read seriously...That I responded so personally to it is a testimony to [its] storytelling and panache.” (Jennifer Senior, New York Times)

Carmon and Knizhnik write powerfully about the progression of Ginsburg’s legal career. In particular, they make vivid the development of her trademark arguments ... In her fierce honesty, resolute realness, and, yes, innate sense of style (those collars!), Ginsburg emerges as a cultural icon worthy of her own fanbase (Kate Tuttle, The Boston Globe)

“What a wonderful book: The annotated dissents! The knockout photos! Why she likes to write through the night! The litany of big cases she won as a lawyer, and how she picked them! How she made Bill Clinton cry! Notorious RBG is a laugh-out-loud joy to read.” (Rachel Maddow)

“A deeply original mashup of pop culture and serious scholarship. I plan to give a copy to both of my daughters.” (Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Devil in the Grove)

“This breezy, fun and thoughtful take on the life of the Justice explains exactly why a new generation created and embraced the Cult of Ginsburg.” (Jeffrey Toobin, author of The Oath and The Nine)

“This rigorously reported book shines a new light on the groundbreaking cases Ginsburg litigated challenging gender stereotypes.” (Louise Melling, Deputy Legal Director, ACLU)

“If you admired RBG before, Carmon and Knizhnik will make you fall in love with her, not only as a feminist hero but a human being.” (Vogue)

“Clark Kent had Superman. Ruth Bader Ginsburg has Notorious R.B.G.... Carmon and Knizhnik have turned R.B.G’s robe into a cape.” (New York Times Book Review)

“[The Notorious RBG] book mixes cheeky fan art with a serious – and stirring – account of Ginsburg’s life and work, covering everything from her trailblazing legal career to her current exercise regimen.” (Rolling Stone)

“After this treatment, surely, Biggie would agree that RBG truly is notorious.” (NPR.org)

From the Back Cover

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“The authors make this unassuming, most studious woman come pulsing to life. . . . Notorious RBG may be a playful project, but it asks to be read seriously. . . . That I responded so personally to it is a testimony to [its] storytelling and panache.”— Jennifer Senior, New York Times

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg never asked for fame—she has only tried to make the world a little better and a little freer.

But nearly a half-century into her career, something funny happened to the octogenarian: she won the internet. Across America, people who weren’t even born when Ginsburg first made her name as a feminist pioneer are tattooing themselves with her face, setting her famously searing dissents to music, and making viral videos in tribute.

Notorious RBG, inspired by the Tumblr that amused the Justice herself and brought to you by its founder and an award-winning feminist journalist, is more than just a love letter. It draws on intimate access to Ginsburg's family members, close friends, colleagues, and clerks, as well an interview with the Justice herself. An original hybrid of reported narrative, annotated dissents, rare archival photos and documents, and illustrations, the book tells a never-before-told story of an unusual and transformative woman who transcends generational divides. As the country struggles with the unfinished business of gender equality and civil rights, Ginsburg stands as a testament to how far we can come with a little chutzpah.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dey Street Books
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0062415832
• ISBN 13: 9780062415837
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240