Accessible, well-edited selections amply demonstrating the astute thinking and sharp voice of an indispensable legal mind.
This entry in the new Penguin Liberty series focuses on the case writings of the most recognizable associate justice on the Supreme Court.
Long before she was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1993, Ginsburg, aka the Notorious RBG, was a crusader for such issues as equal protection for women, reproductive freedom, and civil rights. Stung by her own experiences of discrimination—during pregnancy, as a law student at Harvard, and through her struggle to land a clerkship despite her sterling record—she first grasped how the 14th Amendment, intended to end racial discrimination, could be interpreted to protect sex, as well. As editor Brettschneider, who also serves as the Liberty series editor, notes, “Ginsburg needed to show that sex discrimination fell into the same category as race discrimination—an arbitrary form of discrimination based in factors individuals did not have power over.” She wielded the Equal Protection Clause first as a litigator with the ACLU in Reed v. Reed (1971), which challenged an Idaho law upholding irrational stereotypes about women as inferior to men. In her arguments, she successfully rendered sex a “suspect classification.” Her work as a litigator culminated in what the editor deems her “crowning achievement in this area”: United States v. Virginia (1996), in which Ginsburg argued against the long-standing rule that “barred women from entering” Virginia Military Academy. She prevailed by establishing what she termed “skeptical scrutiny, a "standard made clear that women could not be denied opportunity simply because of their sex.” Other key cases have included such issues as pay equity, affirmative action, voting rights, and religious freedom. Furthermore, writes Brettschneider, whose shrewd shaping of this volume makes it a good choice for students and nonscholars, Ginsburg’s “famous dissent in Bush v. Gore linked the integrity of our electoral process to the security of the people’s rights.”
Accessible, well-edited selections amply demonstrating the astute thinking and sharp voice of an indispensable legal mind.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-14-313511-1
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Penguin
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Maher calls out idiocy wherever he sees it, with a comedic delivery that veers between a stiletto and a sledgehammer.
The comedian argues that the arts of moderation and common sense must be reinvigorated.
Some people are born snarky, some become snarky, and some have snarkiness thrust upon them. Judging from this book, Maher—host of HBO’s Real Time program and author of The New New Rules and When You Ride Alone, You Ride With bin Laden—is all three. As a comedian, he has a great deal of leeway to make fun of people in politics, and he often delivers hilarious swipes with a deadpan face. The author describes himself as a traditional liberal, with a disdain for Republicans (especially the MAGA variety) and a belief in free speech and personal freedom. He claims that he has stayed much the same for more than 20 years, while the left, he argues, has marched toward intolerance. He sees an addiction to extremism on both sides of the aisle, which fosters the belief that anyone who disagrees with you must be an enemy to be destroyed. However, Maher has always displayed his own streaks of extremism, and his scorched-earth takedowns eventually become problematic. The author has something nasty to say about everyone, it seems, and the sarcastic tone starts after more than 300 pages. As has been the case throughout his career, Maher is best taken in small doses. The book is worth reading for the author’s often spot-on skewering of inept politicians and celebrities, but it might be advisable to occasionally dip into it rather than read the whole thing in one sitting. Some parts of the text are hilarious, but others are merely insulting. Maher is undeniably talented, but some restraint would have produced a better book.
Maher calls out idiocy wherever he sees it, with a comedic delivery that veers between a stiletto and a sledgehammer.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9781668051351
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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