Books Set in North America; Washington, D.C.

Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships, by Nina Totenberg (2022)

The title of this book would lead the reader to think that it is about Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  It is, but it is also about Nina Totenberg.  There was far too much about Nina Totenberg and I would have liked more about Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The book is about friendships of all kinds.  Nina talks about her friendships with her husbands, other reporters, other judges and justices.  With few exceptions, the friendships she discusses are well-known people, name-dropping.

There are many parallels in the lives of Ruth and Nina.  Both women were children of Jewish immigrant parents.  Both women were leaders in their respective fields, both women used their positions to help shape the political discourse of American society.

They were friends for over 50 years.  They first met in the early 1970s when Nina was reporting on the Supreme Court and Ruth was arguing a case before the High Court.  Slowly, over time, they became fast friends.  We only see snippets of Ruth in this book, however.  For this reason, I could only give this book 3 stars.  I wanted more Ruth and less Nina.

Read:  March 27, 2026

3 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States

Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World, by Linda Hirshman (2015)

 

In many ways, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg couldn’t have been more different.  O’Connor grew up as the only child of a rancher.  She got her start in politics by volunteering for her local Republican committee.  From there, she entered state politics.  She also felt it was important to cook and keep the home tidy for her family.  She held conservative views.  Ginsburg was essentially an older child (an older sister had died when Ruth was 2 years old) and became and ACLU attorney.  She had a husband how cook and was a strong advocate for her advancement to the high Court.  She was far from conservative.

 

O’Connor was the first female Supreme Court Justice.  As such, she had to face 8 male Justices who in their hearts really didn’t want women on the Court.  The author gives the impression that O’Connor, while a trailblazer by being the first woman on the Court, was tentative in her decisions and didn’t make waves.

 

Ginsburg, on the other hand, had a history with the ACLU advocating for equality for men and women long before she joined the Court.  She had argued before the Supreme Court numerous times and suffered only one adverse Court opinion.  In her advocacy, she was taking steps to advance the rights of women.

 

If anyone believes that the High Court is without politics and partisanship, this book will dispel any such beliefs.  The author describes both the politicking behind getting justices on the Court as well as the politics of the Justices during the deliberation process.  Although the title of the book suggests that both O’Connor and Ginsburg “changed the world”, cases following O’Connor’s departure began a slow erosion of the advances that Ginsburg had made as a practicing attorney.  Ginsburg became famous for her dissents, many of which she would read in open Court.  The author suggests that, perhaps in the future, Ginsburg’s dissents will become the law of the land.

 

It was an interesting book, and provides an insight into the workings of the Court.  The author attempts to digest many of the decisions in a comprehensible manner.  (Supreme Court decisions are famously vague to a non-attorney).  I did find parts of the book a bit dry, so had to put in down several times.

 

Read:  December 31, 2020

 

3 Stars