Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon & Shana Knizhnik

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, speaks in a soft monotone and is an inch over five feet in height. She will be 83 in April of 2016, and she is still going strong. There may be no better introduction to this remarkable lady than Notorious RBG. The book began as a blog in celebration of the jurist's independence, determination and accomplishments. It's a book that suggests an age of social media with photos, documents, charts, doodles, cartoons, nail art, t-shirts, poems, and a recipe. From its appearance, the immediate audience my be twenty somethings, but anyone who picks it up will be entranced.

It took 192 years for the first woman, Sandra Day O'Connor, to join the U. S. Supreme Court. Ginsburg was appointed twelve years later. The road that each traveled as a woman is invaluable in applying law to all citizens. The experiences of Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American appointed to the nation's highest court, broadened the court's understanding of what it is to be an American. This diversity finally gave real meaning to the Constitution: "We the people, in order to form a more perfect union..."

We know much more about political candidates who run for the Presidency and seats in Congress, but the Supreme Court, with its life appointments, is sacrosanct. When Bob Woodward pierced its secrecy in 1979, he titled his book The Brethren, as if these jurists were members of a male religious order. Ginsburg opened her private life to the authors of Notorious RBG. It's a welcome introduction and a study of how one individual, one woman, can make a difference.