Dorothy Kenyon

Hello and welcome to another episode on the New Books Network.

I'm one of your hosts, Dr. Miranda Melcher, and I'm very pleased today to be speaking with Professor Jennifer Brinkley about her book titled Justice Was Her Calling, The Fierce and Fascinating Life of Dorothy Kenyon, published by the University of California Press in 2026.

Now, as that title suggests, we're going to be talking about a particular person, Dorothy Kenyon, who, based on what I've read in this book, I mean, probably should be a lot more famous than she is.

That might be something that we discuss.

But Dorothy Kenyon was involved in all sorts of intriguing things in American politics, American law.

obviously related to gender rights, but not just questions of, for example, women's rights in law.

There's a whole bunch of things all going on here that we get to talk about through examining, as the subtitle suggests, the fierce and fascinating life.

And that class focuses on Ruth Bader Ginsburg's work in the 1970s on behalf of the ACLU's Women's Rights Project.

Hello and welcome to another episode on the New Books Network.

I'm one of your hosts, Dr. Miranda Melcher, and I'm very pleased today to be speaking with Professor Jennifer Brinkley about her book titled Justice Was Her Calling, The Fierce and Fascinating Life of Dorothy Kenyon, published by the University of California Press in 2026.

Now, as that title suggests, we're going to be talking about a particular person, Dorothy Kenyon, who, based on what I've read in this book, I mean, probably should be a lot more famous than she is.

That might be something that we discuss.

But Dorothy Kenyon was involved in all sorts of intriguing things in American politics, American law.

obviously related to gender rights, but not just questions of, for example, women's rights in law.

There's a whole bunch of things all going on here that we get to talk about through examining, as the subtitle suggests, the fierce and fascinating life.

And that class focuses on Ruth Bader Ginsburg's work in the 1970s on behalf of the ACLU's Women's Rights Project.

Hello and welcome to another episode on the New Books Network.

I'm one of your hosts, Dr. Miranda Melcher, and I'm very pleased today to be speaking with Professor Jennifer Brinkley about her book titled Justice Was Her Calling, The Fierce and Fascinating Life of Dorothy Kenyon, published by the University of California Press in 2026.

Now, as that title suggests, we're going to be talking about a particular person, Dorothy Kenyon, who, based on what I've read in this book, I mean, probably should be a lot more famous than she is.

That might be something that we discuss.

But Dorothy Kenyon was involved in all sorts of intriguing things in American politics, American law, etc.

obviously related to gender rights, but not just questions of, for example, women's rights in law.

There's a whole bunch of things all going on here that we get to talk about through examining, as the subtitle suggests, the fierce and fascinating life.

And that class focuses on Ruth Bader Ginsburg's work in the 1970s on behalf of the ACLU's Women's Rights Project.

Hello and welcome to another episode on the New Books Network.

I'm one of your hosts, Dr. Miranda Melcher, and I'm very pleased today to be speaking with Professor Jennifer Brinkley about her book titled Justice Was Her Calling, The Fierce and Fascinating Life of Dorothy Kenyon, published by the University of California Press in 2026.

Now, as that title suggests, we're going to be talking about a particular person, Dorothy Kenyon, who, based on what I've read in this book, I mean, probably should be a lot more famous than she is.

That might be something that we discuss.

But Dorothy Kenyon was involved in all sorts of intriguing things in American politics, American law.

obviously related to gender rights, but not just questions of, for example, women's rights in law.

There's a whole bunch of things all going on here that we get to talk about through examining, as the subtitle suggests, the fierce and fascinating life.

And that class focuses on Ruth Bader Ginsburg's work in the 1970s on behalf of the ACLU's Women's Rights Project.

My guest is Jennifer L. Brinkley, assistant professor of law at the University of Dayton School of Law.

We will discuss her new book, Justice Was Her Calling, The Fierce and Fascinating Life of Dorothy Kenyon, which will be published very soon by the University of California Press.

So welcome back to the show, Jen.

It's been a long time.

So for, for listeners who might unfortunately not be familiar with Dorothy's Kenyon, can you help remedy their lack of knowledge prior to them reading your book, which I'm sure many of them will be doing, by just saying a little something about who she was and how you became interested in her and in her life?

Sure.

So Dorothy Kenyon was a New York judge, lawyer and activist from New York City.

She lived from 1888 to 1972.