Seth Kaller, Inc.

Former Vice President Al Gore inscribed this copy of his book The Assault on Reason to Justice Ginsburg, specifically thanking her for administering his oath of office for his second term as vice president in 1997.

The Assault on Reason is an analysis of what Gore refers to as the “emptying out of the marketplace of ideas” in civic discourse during the administration of George W. Bush (2001-2009). He argues that television has negatively influenced public discourse and endangers American democracy.

[RUTH BADER GINSBURG]. Al Gore, The Assault on Reason. New York: The Penguin Press, 2007. First edition, publisher’s cloth, original dust jacket. Inscribed to Justice Ginsburg: “For Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. / With deepest respect and with thanks for administering my oath of office as V.P. / Al Gore / June, 2007.” 320 pp., 6? x 9½ in.

Inventory #27859       Price: $25,000

Excerpts
“Radio, the Internet, movies, cell phones, iPods, computers, instant messaging, video games, and personal digital assistants all now vie for our attention—but it is television that still dominates the flow of information in modern America.” (6)

“The Internet is a formidable new medium of communication and a source of great hope for the future vitality of democracy.” (6)

“The ability of television to instantly convey moving images as well as words and music to hundreds of millions of Americans simultaneously increased the impact and inherent power of the television medium over the printed word by several orders of magnitude.” (7)

“The inherent value or validity of political propositions put forward by candidates for office is now largely irrelevant compared with the image-based advertising campaigns they use to shape the perceptions of voters.” (8)

“As a result, our democracy is in danger of being hollowed out. The opinions of the voters are sometimes, in effect, being purchased—just as demand for new products is artificially created.” (10)

Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020) was born in Brooklyn into a Jewish family and graduated in 1954 from Cornell University, where she met Martin D. Ginsburg. They married a month after her graduation, and they moved to Oklahoma, where he was stationed in the U.S. Army Reserve. Ruth Bader Ginsburg enrolled in Harvard Law School in 1956 but transferred to Columbia Law School in New York after two years and graduated in 1959. She held a clerkship for a federal judge and then worked at Columbia Law School on international law. She was a professor at Rutgers Law School from 1963 to 1972 and at Columbia Law School from 1972 to 1980. In 1972, she co-founded the Women’s Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union to combat gender discrimination. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Ginsburg as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. She served as a liberal voice on the Supreme Court and authored many important opinions. Ginsburg died of complications from pancreatic cancer and was replaced on the court by Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

Albert A. Gore Jr. (b. 1948) was born in Washington, D.C. to a Congressman from Tennessee and his wife, one of the first women to graduate from Vanderbilt University Law School. He graduated from Harvard College in 1969. He enlisted in the army in August 1969 and after basic training served as a journalist at Fort Rucker, Alabama. He January 1971, he went to Vietnam, where he served for four months with an engineer brigade and as a journalist. After working in journalism, Gore attended Vanderbilt University Law School but did not graduate. Instead, he left to run for Congress and represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives (1977-1985) and the U.S. Senate (1985-1993). Gore sought the Democratic Party nomination for president in 1988 and became Bill Clinton’s vice-presidential running mate in 1992. Inaugurated on January 20, 1993, Gore served as vice president until 2001. He again ran for president in 2000, securing the Democratic nomination but losing the general election to George W. Bush. After serving as vice president, Gore continued to be involved in national politics and environmentalism, which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

Condition: Minor wear; some bleed-through from pen; else, fine.