My Own Words, By Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a collection of essays and speeches that explain, in Ginsburg’s own words, the beliefs and goals that drove her decisions, and her experiences, both before and after she became a Supreme Court Justice. The selections include brief introductions to place the writings in historical context and are organized into general time periods. The book is divided into five parts.

Part I includes essays from her childhood and college, and it includes those that discuss her friendship with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. It also includes the full text of the Scalia/Ginsberg Opera, a comic opera written about the unlikely friendship between the liberal and conservative judges.

Part II includes tributes she gave to other Jewish judges and to women judges who sat on the Supreme Court, as well as to the feminist political activist Gloria Steinem.

Part III includes legal briefs and statements Ginsburg made on gender equality.

Part IV includes remarks on her appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, and Part V includes writings and speeches she made while she served as a Supreme Court Justice.