![]() ![]() She broke the story of accusations that Thomas had sexually harassed law professor Anita Hill while she was in his employ. Totenberg became a household name during the now infamous hearings for Justice Clarence Thomas' nomination to the Supreme Court. She was petite and beautiful and could wear almost anything." "Shopping with Ruth was a humbling experience. Not only was Ginsburg an engaging dinner companion, she was also a critical legal source, a wise personal counselor, and a fashion consultant. Marty Ginsburg was a marvelous cook Totenberg remembers what the two couples ate and where they ate it over many years. Totenberg had recently married her first husband, former Sen. Circuit in 1980 and she and her husband, Marty, moved to Washington. Their relationship became closer when Ginsburg was appointed to the U.S. Totenberg emerged from the conversation "like a goose that had just been stuffed in preparation for foie gras." Totenberg phoned to ask Ginsburg to explain her legal theory, and Ginsburg spent an hour walking Totenberg through the intricate framework of her argument. This winning argument, "which may seem obvious today," was anything but. Totenberg "met" Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 1971, when Ginsburg was a Rutgers law professor who had just authored the ACLU brief arguing that women were entitled to the same equal protection guarantees as men under the 14th Amendment. Floyd Haskell, over the last four years of his life. As she embarks on her friendship education, Totenberg becomes more deeply engaged with those in her circle who require tending - Cokie Roberts as she fought terminal breast cancer over long years, Ruth Ginsburg whose bouts of cancer plagued her for decades until her death in 2020, and the wrenching series of health crises that embattled Totenberg's first husband, former Colo. True friendship, she believes, is "sustained by a certain level of humility." A detached retina she suffered as a young reporter in 1976 sobered Totenberg to the necessity of foul weather friends. This book shows how and from whom she learned it. As she namedrops her way through the politically well-connected and influential, Totenberg brings the charm and self-deprecation to keep us turning pages.įor Totenberg, friendship is a skill she had to learn. Her star-studded social life is germane to the way she transacts business, and she partakes gleefully. ![]() Her lengthy in-person interviews - obtained through grit and perseverance - are core to her strategy: forming bonds with everyone in the legal workplace, including elevator operators and receptionists, who are often invaluable sources.Ī foodie acquainted with great home cooks - many of them men - Totenberg attends and gives parties, lunches, and dinners with anyone who's anyone in the nation's capital. Without graduating college, Totenberg developed singular legal expertise through her dogged efforts to get to know the people who make law. But they did they needed each other both personally and professionally. ![]() They breached a man's world in a time when it was not the norm to become friends with fellow women at work. Totenberg, born in 1944, came of age as a journalist in the early days of NPR, and together with her radio "sisters" Linda Wertheimer, and the late Cokie Roberts, formed a formidable reporting triumvirate. Above all, Totenberg's book is about the abiding importance of friendship. The book opens a window into the history of professional women in the workplace, as well as the trajectory of the Supreme Court over the last 50 years. "Ostensibly" because this book is not quite about dinners with Ruth it is a memoir about Nina Totenberg, a jaunt through her captivating life and career, nose for the jugular, and forthrightness about her joys and sorrows. Now comes Totenberg with Dinners with Ruth, a memoir ostensibly about her long friendship with the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Count me among those who rely on NPR reporter Nina Totenberg's crystalline explanations for all things legal, especially Supreme Court arcana - no one is clearer and more incisive. ![]()
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