The author departs liberally from Ginsburg’s well-known and oft-dramatized biography ... The Majority reminds us that individual motivations don’t always line up neatly with collective needs. And that a political machine counts for nothing if it doesn’t put people first.
Silver is particularly persuasive when dramatizing what women faced when trying to maintain careers and families in the 1970s. The many specific similarities between Sylvia and Ginsburg make it tricky, of course, to tell where Silver is inventing events and relationships.
Readers will, of necessity, think of real-life trailblazers Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but Silver wisely brings a universality to Sylvia’s story of sacrifice and determination, making it recognizable to women of every era, background, and profession who battle to forge their own paths against society’s limiting expectations.
Incisive ... The parallels to Ginsburg are obvious, but Silver wisely gives Sylvia her own path to travel, emphasizing how her professional goals both shape and are shaped by her experiences as a woman. Ginsburg’s many admirers will be captivated by her literary counterpart.
