It took twenty-three years on the bench before Ruth Bader Ginsburg published her first book in 2016; the book, a collection of her speeches and writings, included her earliest opinions formulated in the eighth grade. Although the works contained in the book are Bader Ginsburg's own, and the preface was also penned by the judge, Ginsburg's collaborators, Mary Hartnett and Wendy W. Williams put the speeches and writings into context and showed how RBG's written work reflected and framed her career.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a Supreme Court Judge from 1993 until her death on September 18, 2020, and prior to this she was a renowned and respected jurist who was considered a centrist liberal.
The predominant themes of the book are also the predominant themes of her life and her work; gender equality, Jewish equality, and the way in which she understood the Constitution and its role in guiding her decisions on the bench. The book also includes her opinions of those with whom she worked. Many of the opinions are surprising; her likes and dislikes depended less upon the way in which another voted, and more upon the way in which they lived.
When the book was released, six months earlier than scheduled, it received a positive reception. Although many reviewers pointed out that the lengthy technkical legalese that covered many of the pages would be largely skipped over by the average reader, there was consensus when it came to the entertaining nature of Bader Ginsburg herself, and the iconic trail she blazed when it came to women's rights.
