First

Praise

“She rose to fame as the first female Supreme Court justice, but during her twenty-four years on the bench she became even more: the most powerful justice of our era.  With practical instincts and sharp intellect, she crafted sensible compromises on affirmative action, abortion, and other contentious issues.  She embodies the virtues we sorely lack today: decency, honesty, balance, and a nobility worn lightly. With amazing access to her journals and papers, Evan Thomas has written a brilliant and riveting book that captures her principles and personality.  She’s a hero for our time, and this is the biography for our time.”—Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Leonardo Da Vinci

“An unvarnished and psychologically intuitive look at the nation’s first female Supreme Court justice . . . Thomas breaks new ground with First . . . unlike every other volume written about O’Connor.”—NPR

“A great storyteller has found his greatest subject in trailblazer Sandra Day O’Connor. Evan Thomas has written one of the most insightful and thoroughly captivating biographies I have ever read: A clear and compelling illumination of Sandra Day O’Connor’s unique voice and place in American history is told through her remarkable life’s journey from a rancher’s daughter to the first woman appointed to the highest court in the land.”—Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Leadership: In Turbulent Times

“A vivid, humane, and inspiring portrait of an extraordinary woman and how she both reflected and shaped an era.”—Drew Faust, president emerita, Harvard University
 
“Before Ruth Bader Ginsburg, there was Sandra Day O’Connor, and O’Connor’s story has everything. In Evan Thomas’s brilliant and compelling book, we are given an intimate and gripping account of a pioneering American woman successfully seeking to thrive in an all-male world. Noble and flawed, selfless and ambitious, Justice O’Connor sought a more perfect union amid imperfect choices. Written with fluidity and grace, Thomas’s book is required reading for anyone interested in the role of women in America, the course of justice, and the nature of our politics. This is a landmark achievement about an American original that’s also, blessedly, a delight to read.”—Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Soul of America

“This highly readable biography shows the underlying factors motivating O’Connor both on and off the Court. It will have considerable popular appeal to both political scientists and historians, as well as general readers interested in how America’s government interacts with the public in resolving political issues related to the law.”—Library Journal (starred review) 

“By thoroughly mining O’Connor’s archives and interviewing the trail-blazing justice’s family, friends, and former clerks, the award-winning Thomas creates a fully realized portrait of this heroic, stalwart, and pioneering lawyer and Supreme Court justice, whose contributions to American jurisprudence are legendary and enduring.”—Booklist