Ruth Bader Ginsburg

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This comprehensive biography offers a definitive account of an icon who significantly advanced gender equality. Historian Jane Sherron De Hart draws on fifteen years of interviews and research to explore the pivotal experiences that fueled Ginsburg’s passion for justice and her advocacy for women's rights. Central to her story is her Jewish heritage, particularly the concept of tikkun olam, meaning 'repair the world', which deeply resonated with her as a young girl during the Holocaust and World War II. Ruth’s journey began with her mother, whose early death left a lasting impact on her feminism. It spans her time as a baton twirler at James Madison High School, her education at Cornell, Harvard, and Columbia Law Schools, and her rise as one of the first female law professors, where she faced challenges like fighting for equal pay and concealing her pregnancy to keep her position. As the director of the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, she argued landmark anti-sex-discrimination cases before the US Supreme Court, paving the way for her nomination in 1993 as the second woman on the Court. This intimate biography provides unprecedented insight into a pioneering life and legal career, whose influence will resonate into the twenty-first century and beyond.