One for the Books

Montecito author Jane Sherron De Hart‘s 752-page book on Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, after a staggering 15 years of writing and research, is now ready for its close-up.

“I initially was writing about her impact on gender issues, but the more I did my research, the more I got caught up in her life story, which needed constant updating,” explained Jane, a history professor at UCSB, at a bustling book launch bash at Tecolote in the upper village.

Ginsburg, 85, at just five feet tall, is the 107th Supreme Court Justice and cooperated fully, along with her husband, children, friends, and associates on the colossal revelatory Knopf-published work, which covers her efforts for gender equality and meticulous jurisprudence during her career on the bench.

She was the second female of four confirmed by the highest court in the land, sitting in Washington since 1993, after studying at Cornell, Harvard, and Columbia and being a law professor at Rutgers.

A pioneering life and legal career, leaving a profound mark on American jurisprudence, American society, and on American character and spirit, which will reverberate deep into the 21st century and beyond.

Jane’s book, Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life, the third she has written, is clearly destined to become a classic and will just add to the honors she has collected during an illustrious career, including being a two-time recipient as a Fellow for the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1975 and 1998.

Her next work, a contribution to an anthology, Women’s America: Refocusing The Past, is due out next year.