This was a very long, meticulously researched account of how Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg reached the Supreme Court, and what they did during their tenures. It discusses specific court cases and laws, and gets a little dry at times, but overall I found it interesting and informative.
Hirshman starts by comparing and contrasting the early lives of these two incredible women, “Republican and Democrat, Christian and Jew, western rancher’s daughter and Brooklyn girl”, etc. Then she splits into separate histories, showing how they ascended to the court, cases they presided over, and how they interacted once there.
I feel like the author has a bit of a bias towards Ginsburg, and honestly, I sort of do, too. It’s hard, at least as a really liberal feminist, not to lean towards the feisty liberal feminist judge. But O’Connor’s contributions, despite the fact that they were usually accomplished by working within the white male system instead of railing against it, should not be discounted. And I certainly learned a hell of a lot about both of them in the course of reading this.
Your voracious, so I’m guessing the answer is yes, but did you read Notorious RBG? Its certainly a lighter look at Justice Ginsburg, but also places a lot of the work that was done in context as well. Plus its got some fun design work. It might be a good “light” follow up.