Dinners with Ruth

A Memoir of Friendship

By: Nina Totenberg

Narrated by: Nina Totenberg

Celebrated NPR correspondent Nina Totenberg delivers an extraordinary memoir of her personal successes, struggles, and life-affirming relationships, including her beautiful friendship of nearly fifty years with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Four years before Nina Totenberg was hired at NPR, where she cemented her legacy as a prizewinning reporter, and nearly twenty-two years before Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court, Nina called Ruth. A reporter for The National Observer, Nina was curious about Ruth’s legal brief, asking the Supreme Court to do something revolutionary: declare a law that discriminated “on the basis of sex” to be unconstitutional. In a time when women were fired for becoming pregnant, often could not apply for credit cards, or get a mortgage in their own names, Ruth patiently explained her argument. That call launched a remarkable, nearly fifty-year friendship.

Dinners with Ruth is an extraordinary account of two women who paved the way for future generations by tearing down professional and legal barriers. It is also an intimate memoir of the power of friendships as women began to pry open career doors and transform the workplace. At the story’s heart is one, special relationship: Ruth and Nina saw each other not only through personal joys, but also illness, loss, and widowhood. During the devastating illness and eventual death of Nina’s first husband, Ruth drew her out of grief; twelve years later, Nina would reciprocate when Ruth’s beloved husband died. They shared not only a love of opera, but also of shopping, as they instinctively understood that clothes were armor for women who wanted to be taken seriously in a workplace dominated by men. During Ruth’s last year, they shared so many small dinners that Saturdays were “reserved for Ruth” in Nina’s house.

Dinners with Ruth also weaves together compelling, personal portraits of other fascinating women and men from Nina’s life, including her cherished NPR colleagues Cokie Roberts and Linda Wertheimer; her beloved husbands; her friendships with multiple Supreme Court Justices, including Lewis Powell, William Brennan, and Antonin Scalia, and Nina’s own family—her father, the legendary violinist Roman Totenberg, and her “best friends,” her sisters. Inspiring and revelatory, Dinners with Ruth is a moving story of the joy and true meaning of friendship.

Critic reviews

"Nina Totenberg’s remarkable memoir about friendship, love, fortitude, and the marvelous Ruth Bader Ginsberg is a gift to each woman’s multitudinous fans. Listeners who recognize only one of their names, or even neither, will still be moved by Totenberg’s affecting, wise, and often funny reflections on loving the people we love. Narrated by the author, a renowned journalist and NPR legal reporter, the audiobook is performed with Totenberg’s trademark energy, attentive pacing, smart tonal shifts, and talent for reproducing lively conversations. The work combines memoir, social commentary, and philosophical considerations with a captivating cast of husbands, sisters, girlfriends, colleagues, and most of all, RBG herself. Violin interludes played by the author’s father, the late superstar Roman Totenberg, are the perfect icing on this delicious cake."

Dinners with Ruth

I enjoyed this very much. At first I thought the title was to sell books because it is half about Ruth and the other half a memoir of the author. It really is about several friendships and an insiders view of the Supreme Court. I found it very informative, well written and I looked forward to listening to a few chapters a day. This is definitely a good one.

Beautiful remembrance

How wonderful to hear these stories and remember the force that was RBG. A balm for the soul in these troubled times.

Genuinely moving

I was surprised at how moving Nina's stories if friendship are, especially those of RBG. The world is so much darker for having lost her.

Nina’s Autobiography

Great book. I learned a lot about the workings of the Supreme Court. It read more like Nina’s autobiography than about dinners with Ruth. Great read, though.

So so good.

This book is a lovely remembrance of friendship between extraordinary women. This book reminds me of Nora Ephron’s “I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman” and “I Remember Nothing”