Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime That Changed America

New
Hardcover
2014
$18.15

In 1964 a woman was stabbed to death in front of her home in New York, a murder The New York Times called a frozen moment of dramatic, disturbing social change . The victim, Catherine Kitty Genovese, became an urban martyr, butchered in sight of thirty-eight neighbours who didn't want to get involved . Her sensational case provoked an outcry and launched a sociological theory known as the Bystander Effect .

On the fiftieth anniversary of her murder, Kevin Cook presents the real Genovese. Gripping (The New York Times) and Provocative (The Wall Street Journal), Kitty Genovese evokes the gay and lesbian underground of Greenwich Village with feeling and detail. Cook reconstructs the crime, and drawing on lost documents and new interviews, explores the legacy of the case. His account of what happened is the most accurate and chilling to date.

Synopsis

In 1964 a woman was stabbed to death in front of her home in New York, a murder The New York Times called a frozen moment of dramatic, disturbing social change . The victim, Catherine Kitty Genovese, became an urban martyr, butchered in sight of thirty-eight neighbours who didn't want to get involved . Her sensational case provoked an outcry and launched a sociological theory known as the Bystander Effect .

On the fiftieth anniversary of her murder, Kevin Cook presents the real Genovese. Gripping (The New York Times) and Provocative (The Wall Street Journal), Kitty Genovese evokes the gay and lesbian underground of Greenwich Village with feeling and detail. Cook reconstructs the crime, and drawing on lost documents and new interviews, explores the legacy of the case. His account of what happened is the most accurate and chilling to date.

$18.15

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 256
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 05 Aug 2014
ISBN 10: 0393239284
ISBN 13: 9780393239287

Media Reviews

...well-written and often gripping book... -- The Times
A grim and fascinating history and discussion of the bystander effect... this book asks hard questions of human nature. -- Diva
Cook's take on events is intelligent, superbly researched and truly unsettling, making this one of the best true crime books I've read in the last few years. -- The Sunday Herald
Kevin Cook takes the story apart and puts it back together again. His punchy account of this famous event reveals that almost everything we think we know about it is wrong. -- Daniel Finkelstein, Christmas Round-ups 2014 - The Times

Author Bio

A former senior editor at Sports Illustrated, Kevin Cook is the author of Titanic Thompson, Tommy's Honor, Kitty Genovese and The Dad Report. He lives in New York City.