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The Last Interview
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations
The newest entry in the increasingly popular series collects fascinating and in-depth interviews with Bill Moyers, Nina Totenberg, and more, and conversations (with Antonin Scalia and high school students) from throughout the long, ground-breaking career of one of the greatest, most influential, and most exciting legal minds in American history.
From her start in Depression-era New York, to her final days at the pinnacle of the American legal system, Ruth Bader Ginsburg defied convention, blazing a trail that helped bring greater equality to women, and to all Americans. In this collection of in-depth interviews -- including her last, as well as one of her first -- Ginsburg details her rise from a Brooklyn public school to becoming the second woman on the United States Supreme Court, and her non-stop fight for gender equality along the way. Besides telling the story behind many of her famous court battles, she also talks openly about motherhood and her partnership with her beloved husband, her Jewishness, her surprising friendship with her legal polar opposite Justice Antonin Scalia, her passion for opera, and, in one of the collection's most charming interviews, offers advice to high school students wondering about the law. It is, in the end, both an engrossing look into a fascinating life, and an inspiring tribute to an American icon.
From her start in Depression-era New York, to her final days at the pinnacle of the American legal system, Ruth Bader Ginsburg defied convention, blazing a trail that helped bring greater equality to women, and to all Americans. In this collection of in-depth interviews -- including her last, as well as one of her first -- Ginsburg details her rise from a Brooklyn public school to becoming the second woman on the United States Supreme Court, and her non-stop fight for gender equality along the way. Besides telling the story behind many of her famous court battles, she also talks openly about motherhood and her partnership with her beloved husband, her Jewishness, her surprising friendship with her legal polar opposite Justice Antonin Scalia, her passion for opera, and, in one of the collection's most charming interviews, offers advice to high school students wondering about the law. It is, in the end, both an engrossing look into a fascinating life, and an inspiring tribute to an American icon.
208 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
February 25, 2021
One of my regrets so far; was not pushing myself hard enough to meet RBG.
Lesson learned.
Lesson learned.
August 12, 2022
Hurts to remember what a tremendous loss her death was for our country and how the Supreme Court has entirely fucked up in recent years.
March 2, 2023
My favorite line of any Supreme Court Case (thus far): “[t]hrowing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.” -RBG
If you come to this expecting a thoroughly tied-in through-line of narrative, you won’t be satisfied. RBG’s story is told through a set of interviews, some of which cover the same issue several time, and some of which are out of order in her life story (questions, not interviews… the interviews are in the right order).
Overall? Some rhetorically potent phraseology from a woman who APPARENTLY learned her language skills alongside VLADIMIR NABOKOV, the author of LOLITA, so I’m still processing that.
If you come to this expecting a thoroughly tied-in through-line of narrative, you won’t be satisfied. RBG’s story is told through a set of interviews, some of which cover the same issue several time, and some of which are out of order in her life story (questions, not interviews… the interviews are in the right order).
Overall? Some rhetorically potent phraseology from a woman who APPARENTLY learned her language skills alongside VLADIMIR NABOKOV, the author of LOLITA, so I’m still processing that.
January 4, 2021
I read /Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations (The Last Interview Series)/:
https://headtopics.com/uk/ruth-bader-...
Despite the brevity of this book in paperback format, I learned a lot about the Court system in the United States (and enjoyed the process).
https://headtopics.com/uk/ruth-bader-...
Despite the brevity of this book in paperback format, I learned a lot about the Court system in the United States (and enjoyed the process).
December 31, 2024
RBG is and will always be one of my biggest role models as a woman. She was a strong, opinionated woman who never let the men in her life get in her way if she could help it. I read another book in this series (Frida Kahlo, also amazing) and knew I needed this one because I loved the format.
First, we get a small bio where we learn about Ginsburg's early life and some of her more famous cases. This was an appropriately in-depth bio for the length of this short book and I think it touched on some of the more formidable times of her life. How, after graduating first in her class at Columbia Law School, she was repeatedly rejected by both law firms and judges for clerkships on account of her gender. How she went on to teach at Rutgers but had to accept a lower salary than her male counterparts.
I also really enjoyed the variety of the interviews. We get a good range, from a NYT article about her from 1972, a Q&A with high school students in 2002, and even an interview done at Sundance during a Cinema Cafe talk in 2018. With such a wide range of interviews, we also see a wide view of Ginsburg's personality. She was hilariously witty, speaking on a wide range of topics sometimes even outside of her expertise. We even get a snippet of her love for the opera and how that brought her together with another Justice from across the aisle.
If you are a fan of RBG or if you are at all interested in the multitude of changes she has brought about (and helped bring about) in her lifetime, I would absolutely recommend this too-short book (I could easily read something encompassing many more of her interviews).
First, we get a small bio where we learn about Ginsburg's early life and some of her more famous cases. This was an appropriately in-depth bio for the length of this short book and I think it touched on some of the more formidable times of her life. How, after graduating first in her class at Columbia Law School, she was repeatedly rejected by both law firms and judges for clerkships on account of her gender. How she went on to teach at Rutgers but had to accept a lower salary than her male counterparts.
I also really enjoyed the variety of the interviews. We get a good range, from a NYT article about her from 1972, a Q&A with high school students in 2002, and even an interview done at Sundance during a Cinema Cafe talk in 2018. With such a wide range of interviews, we also see a wide view of Ginsburg's personality. She was hilariously witty, speaking on a wide range of topics sometimes even outside of her expertise. We even get a snippet of her love for the opera and how that brought her together with another Justice from across the aisle.
If you are a fan of RBG or if you are at all interested in the multitude of changes she has brought about (and helped bring about) in her lifetime, I would absolutely recommend this too-short book (I could easily read something encompassing many more of her interviews).
March 10, 2023
The Last Interview with Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the third in the series I've read and I really enjoyed it. The 6 interviews with RBG illustrate just what a pathbreaker she was - the first woman to achieve tenure when she went to Columbia Law School, and finally, the first woman to lie in state in the Capitol of the United States - and the various obstacles she had to overcome to get there. We learn, through the interviews, how she struggled to get a job at a law firm after graduating from Columbia Law tied for first place. How at Cornell RBG's chemistry instructor gave her a practice exam that was actually the real exam, the subtext being that RBG had to return the favour. (She deliberately made two mistakes on the exam and later told him off.) RBG eventually got a job clerking for a Federal district judge and later went to Rutgers where she was paid a lower salary compared to the male professors. Her husband Marty was diagnosed with testicular cancer when both of them were still in Harvard Law and they had a 14-month old toddler. RBG would later have her own battles with cancer.
RBG also acknowledges all the support she received in getting to where she was. The unflinching support of her husband, Marty Ginsburg, was one. RBG said that Marty was "so confident in his own ability that he never regarded [her] as any kind of threat…he [was her] biggest booster". I read this book just as the newspapers were reporting that former President Jimmy Carter had opted for hospice care; Ginsburg was nominated by Carter to be a judge on the US Court of Appeals, as part of a concerted effort by his administration to appoint women and minorities to the judiciary. RBG said that Carter "deliberately set about to change the face - to change the complexion - of the US judiciary so that it would genuinely reflect all of the nation's people - all of the talent in this nation and not just part of it."nAnd she recounts in her interview at the Sundance Film Festival how it was only later that she learned that she managed to get the job clerking for a Federal district judge through the efforts of her Columbia law school professor Gerald Gunther. Gunther asked the judge to give RBG a chance; to sweeten the deal, he said that if RBG didn't work out, he would send a male to take her place. He also threatened that if the judge didn't give RBG a chance, he would never recommend another Columbia student to that judge.
I loved the range of the selected interviews: the first is a short NYT interview from 1972 when RBG joins the faculty of Columbia Law School; a 1986 interview with C-Span Judicial Affairs after she is appointed to the US Court of Appeal; the 2002 transcript of a Q&A with high school students from Brooklyn and Midlothian, Virginia visiting the Supreme Court; a 2014 interview together with Antonin Scalia with Martin Kalb for The Kalb Report on The First Amendment; a 2018 interview at the Sundance Film Festival when the documentary RBG premiered; a 2018 interview for The Forward, a Jewish publication; and her last interview in Feb 2020 with Bill Moyers.
Like the Last Interview with Nora Ephron (and unlike the one with Jane Jacobs), this collection of interviews with RBG features a blend of the personal and the professional. The Q&A with high school students shows how RBG was able to break down legal issues for a layman audience using plain English (a very rare skill!), the camaraderie between the justices and the customs that promote friendship and respect between them. Her advice to the students wishing to become lawyers is to become a well-educated and well-read person, so that they can become wise counsellors; they don't need to major in any particular discipline but should have intellectual curiosity and breadth.
The 2014 Kalb interview, with the brilliant back and forth between RBG and Scalia, not only illustrated their differences in opinion in interpreting the Constitution, but also their warm friendship. Like when RBG reminisces about when she first encountered Scalia when he gave a speech at an event and while she disagreed with a good part of what he said, she thought he "said it in an absolutely captivating way." Or when Kalb asks RBG if she would have voted in favour of the New York Times in Times vs Sullivan in the late 1700s, Scalia chimes in to say, "Oh god yes, she could have voted for it. Come on, come on, Mr Kalb!"
In the 2018 interview at the Sundance Film Festival, we learn about how Marty and RBG coped when he was diagnosed with cancer, parenting. And in the 2018 interview with The Forward, more about RBG's Jewish identity, her views on gender equality, her favourite bagel. In the Feb 2020 interview with Bill Moyers, RBG recounts how she studied European literature at Cornell in the 1950s with Vladimir Nabokov, the experience leaving an indelible impact on her writing. RBG offers this anecdote of Nabokov, when he explained why he liked writing in English better than other languages:
"[Take] the white horse. Well, if you say it in French, it's le cheval blanc. But when you say cheval, you see a brown horse. You have to adjust your image to make it white. But because we put the adjective first, when the horse comes, it's already white."
The Last Interview with RBG offers a 101 into American constitutional law. Scalia on the First Amendment:
"I will defend your right to use [your First Amendment rights[, but I will not defend the appropriateness of the manner in which you're using it now. That can be very wrong….[under the First Amendment], [y]ou have the right to express your contempt for the government."
Like when Scalia and RBG argue what they think is the province of the judiciary and what should be decided by the executive. When asked by Kalb if she believes Snowden to be a whistle-blower or a traitor, RBG replies that this is a policy question, not a legal question. And Scalia argues that the Supreme Court should not be deciding matters of national security (e.g. whether wiretapping is justifiable) because they "know nothing about the degree of risk" to be able to make an informed decision.
The Last Interview also offers various lovely nuggets, like how Supreme Court justices are allowed to have artwork from the National Gallery, the Museum of American Art and MoMa, so long as it's not currently being exhibited. They get to choose whatever they want and the paintings are loaned to them until the museums need them for an exhibition.
Overall, The Last Interview with RBG was a fascinating read on multiple levels - an introduction to legal philosophy and glimpse into the character of a formidable personality.
RBG also acknowledges all the support she received in getting to where she was. The unflinching support of her husband, Marty Ginsburg, was one. RBG said that Marty was "so confident in his own ability that he never regarded [her] as any kind of threat…he [was her] biggest booster". I read this book just as the newspapers were reporting that former President Jimmy Carter had opted for hospice care; Ginsburg was nominated by Carter to be a judge on the US Court of Appeals, as part of a concerted effort by his administration to appoint women and minorities to the judiciary. RBG said that Carter "deliberately set about to change the face - to change the complexion - of the US judiciary so that it would genuinely reflect all of the nation's people - all of the talent in this nation and not just part of it."nAnd she recounts in her interview at the Sundance Film Festival how it was only later that she learned that she managed to get the job clerking for a Federal district judge through the efforts of her Columbia law school professor Gerald Gunther. Gunther asked the judge to give RBG a chance; to sweeten the deal, he said that if RBG didn't work out, he would send a male to take her place. He also threatened that if the judge didn't give RBG a chance, he would never recommend another Columbia student to that judge.
I loved the range of the selected interviews: the first is a short NYT interview from 1972 when RBG joins the faculty of Columbia Law School; a 1986 interview with C-Span Judicial Affairs after she is appointed to the US Court of Appeal; the 2002 transcript of a Q&A with high school students from Brooklyn and Midlothian, Virginia visiting the Supreme Court; a 2014 interview together with Antonin Scalia with Martin Kalb for The Kalb Report on The First Amendment; a 2018 interview at the Sundance Film Festival when the documentary RBG premiered; a 2018 interview for The Forward, a Jewish publication; and her last interview in Feb 2020 with Bill Moyers.
Like the Last Interview with Nora Ephron (and unlike the one with Jane Jacobs), this collection of interviews with RBG features a blend of the personal and the professional. The Q&A with high school students shows how RBG was able to break down legal issues for a layman audience using plain English (a very rare skill!), the camaraderie between the justices and the customs that promote friendship and respect between them. Her advice to the students wishing to become lawyers is to become a well-educated and well-read person, so that they can become wise counsellors; they don't need to major in any particular discipline but should have intellectual curiosity and breadth.
The 2014 Kalb interview, with the brilliant back and forth between RBG and Scalia, not only illustrated their differences in opinion in interpreting the Constitution, but also their warm friendship. Like when RBG reminisces about when she first encountered Scalia when he gave a speech at an event and while she disagreed with a good part of what he said, she thought he "said it in an absolutely captivating way." Or when Kalb asks RBG if she would have voted in favour of the New York Times in Times vs Sullivan in the late 1700s, Scalia chimes in to say, "Oh god yes, she could have voted for it. Come on, come on, Mr Kalb!"
In the 2018 interview at the Sundance Film Festival, we learn about how Marty and RBG coped when he was diagnosed with cancer, parenting. And in the 2018 interview with The Forward, more about RBG's Jewish identity, her views on gender equality, her favourite bagel. In the Feb 2020 interview with Bill Moyers, RBG recounts how she studied European literature at Cornell in the 1950s with Vladimir Nabokov, the experience leaving an indelible impact on her writing. RBG offers this anecdote of Nabokov, when he explained why he liked writing in English better than other languages:
"[Take] the white horse. Well, if you say it in French, it's le cheval blanc. But when you say cheval, you see a brown horse. You have to adjust your image to make it white. But because we put the adjective first, when the horse comes, it's already white."
The Last Interview with RBG offers a 101 into American constitutional law. Scalia on the First Amendment:
"I will defend your right to use [your First Amendment rights[, but I will not defend the appropriateness of the manner in which you're using it now. That can be very wrong….[under the First Amendment], [y]ou have the right to express your contempt for the government."
Like when Scalia and RBG argue what they think is the province of the judiciary and what should be decided by the executive. When asked by Kalb if she believes Snowden to be a whistle-blower or a traitor, RBG replies that this is a policy question, not a legal question. And Scalia argues that the Supreme Court should not be deciding matters of national security (e.g. whether wiretapping is justifiable) because they "know nothing about the degree of risk" to be able to make an informed decision.
The Last Interview also offers various lovely nuggets, like how Supreme Court justices are allowed to have artwork from the National Gallery, the Museum of American Art and MoMa, so long as it's not currently being exhibited. They get to choose whatever they want and the paintings are loaned to them until the museums need them for an exhibition.
Overall, The Last Interview with RBG was a fascinating read on multiple levels - an introduction to legal philosophy and glimpse into the character of a formidable personality.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 20, 2021
This is a collection of interviews, and transcripts of interviews, with Ruth Bader Ginsberg over her career. Most are relatively recent, but the first one is older. The interviewers vary from TV presenters to hosts at film festivals, to high-schoolers on a field trip to the Supreme Court.
As someone who doesn't know too much about the law, different courts etc. I found the information fascinating. Numerous key equal rights cases are referenced and their significance explained, as well as some other key personalities on the court circuits. It's also depressingly easy to see how fragile some areas of the law are, and how quickly those opposed to equal rights respond to even the smallest fragility in the system.
The interviews give a clear picture of Justice Ginsberg's philosophy about the law, insights into her relationship with Justice Scalia, her love of opera, and flashes of her background and upbringing. They were an easy read, although from the transcripts it's also easy to see how often the conversations were taken over by the interviewers, and sometimes even male co-interviewees.
A fascinating read for anyone interested in the life of this amazing woman, legal systems or the ongoing fights for equality in the US and beyond.
As someone who doesn't know too much about the law, different courts etc. I found the information fascinating. Numerous key equal rights cases are referenced and their significance explained, as well as some other key personalities on the court circuits. It's also depressingly easy to see how fragile some areas of the law are, and how quickly those opposed to equal rights respond to even the smallest fragility in the system.
The interviews give a clear picture of Justice Ginsberg's philosophy about the law, insights into her relationship with Justice Scalia, her love of opera, and flashes of her background and upbringing. They were an easy read, although from the transcripts it's also easy to see how often the conversations were taken over by the interviewers, and sometimes even male co-interviewees.
A fascinating read for anyone interested in the life of this amazing woman, legal systems or the ongoing fights for equality in the US and beyond.
March 28, 2023
The was a great read about a women who was an exceptional human being. I very much doubt that there is anyone around that doesn’t know what a trail blazer RBG was and this book was a joy to read, a series of interviews in individual chapters that highlighted her most well known cases, her relationship with Justice Scalia and her work on the women’s rights movement. What this book also showed that is how the court has changed in the past 3 years from something that upheld the Constitution and had integrity to one that is has a collection of sock puppets that vote based on their personal beliefs rather than what is constitutionally right.
I dropped a star because several things were repeated more than once. What I also took from this book was that I must read some of her opinions and also several book recommendations she suggest.
I dropped a star because several things were repeated more than once. What I also took from this book was that I must read some of her opinions and also several book recommendations she suggest.
April 7, 2021
For someone who had recently seen the film On the Basis of Sex, but did not know much else about RBG's life and work, this book was interesting. At no fault of the editor, RBG often repeated herself in interviews, in part due to the fact she was often asked similar questions. I think for someone who already has some RBG knowledge base, this book doesn't offer much more insight. For someone who doesn't know anything about RBG, I doubt you would learn much about her from this book either, as it doesn't paint a complete picture of her life and refers to outside cases or events regularly. I think this would suit someone who is a collector of these sorts of books, or of The Last Interview series, and not someone who is looking to gain more knowledge about her life and ideas.
February 28, 2025
I read this after watching On the Basis of Sex. It highlights not only her lifelong pursuit of making sure everyone gets included in "we the people" but also her pursuit of knowledge and arts. Her self-control and her ability to be unbiased are not only admirable but also something everyone should strive to be. It brings her down to earth and makes her more relatable to people who may not know much about her and gives people an inkling of her passion for law and justice. It not only made me realize how little I actually know about the judicial system and its processes but also how little it is taught. If more people in government had her attitude and will to make our country a better place, we would be. Her absence is a substantial loss for everyone.
February 1, 2021
RBG has been my idol for so long, I’ve always loved her come-up story, her family story, her journeys with cancer, her ability to love those even with polar opposite views. When she passed, I felt true remorse - a loss for the equality figure that was this 87 year old powerhouse. This book of interviews was great - it shed light to her humor, her grace, and her drive. If you’re a fan of RBG and just want some of her words - this is a good option, however if you’re looking for a book that discusses more of her dissents and history - then I’d suggest My Own Words or Notorious RBG.
August 15, 2021
To be clear, the 4 stars have nothing to do with RBG’s words. I really enjoyed this book, and I think RBG is absolutely brilliant. My only critique is that several of the interviews revisited the same topics, and RBG is very consistent in her answers. Therefore, it wasn’t always new information in each interview.
January 8, 2022
Very cool read! Honestly, I learned more about how the Supreme Court works while reading this. Most of the interviews focus on gender discrimination, and the cases involved within the fight against gender discrimination. And some fun stories from Ruth about her life and also her friendship with Scalia. RIP RBG!
December 19, 2020
I really admired RBG and all she did over her very long career. I enjoyed reading the interviews she had done over the past few years. Her last interview as in Feb. 2020.
I did not know about this series but glad I found this one.
I did not know about this series but glad I found this one.
January 14, 2021
This is an excellent series of interviews cultural figures. And this entry on RBG wonderfully highlights her remarkable contributions to American justice. Short and easy to read, but enlightening. (Own)
April 27, 2022
I really enjoy this Last Interview series and this one did not dissapoint. It just really made me eager to learn even more about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg! I recommend this to anyone I know that is interested in RBG.
August 16, 2023
"I would like to be remembered as someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability." -RBG
She was such an iconic woman. This was an amazing read, I will definitely be reading it again.
She was such an iconic woman. This was an amazing read, I will definitely be reading it again.
December 7, 2020
I learned a lot. She is an inspiration to women everywhere. RIP Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
January 2, 2021
I gave this four stars based primarily on the interviews with Totenberg and Moyers. RBG is one of my heroes! My first read of 2021!
January 3, 2021
Such a wonderful Justice. Great book. The world misses you RGB.
January 10, 2021
Uplifting and delightful.
Want to read
January 27, 2021Guardian review: https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
January 28, 2021
I probably would have never had access to these interviews without this book. I am glad I had the chance to read these interviews. This book only made me love what RBG fought for even more.
February 2, 2021
A delight to read this series of interviews with RBG. Some repetitive information, but interesting nonetheless.
July 3, 2021
Great collection of interviews, I learned a lot and understood most of everything with a small prior knowledge.
July 8, 2021
Wonderful information about RBG, both personal and professional. However, some of the interviews were quite repetitive.
January 4, 2022
Overall good, slow at some parts
Read
May 4, 2022Notorious RBG. Supreme being. Judaism. Some repetition. I miss her.
September 7, 2022
Drier and more “legalese” than expected but still interesting
September 25, 2022
Its RBG in interviews so it can't fail really.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews