Synopses & Reviews
New York City, 1964. A young woman is stabbed to death on her front stoop--a murder the called "a frozen moment of dramatic, disturbing social change." The victim, Catherine "Kitty" Genovese, became an urban martyr, butchered by a sociopathic killer in plain sight of thirty-eight neighbors who "didn't want to get involved." Her sensational case provoked an anxious outcry and launched a sociological theory known as the "Bystander Effect."
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"Provocative." The Wall Street Journal
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"A GREAT book. I don't think I've read its compelling equal in twenty years. Every page reveals astonishing new facts about one of the most paralyzing events in the flawed soul of the American character. This is modern history at its storytelling best, ignored at the reader's peril." Harlan Ellison
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"Cook is [an] adept storyteller. His peppy knowing style calls to mind pop-culture products from the time of the murder...he is firmly and persuasively in the revisionist camp." The New Yorker
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"Provocative... As much about the alchemy of journalism as urban pathology." Edward Kosner
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"An engrossing true-crime tour de force." The Wall Street Journal
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"As much social history as true crime, this is an insightful probe into the notorious case." Kirkus Reviews
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"Kevin Cook rips the cover off an enduring urban myth. He's done a first-rate reporting job, one that delivers the truth at last about an infamous murder that came to define an age." Publishers Weekly
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"Cook's restoration helps make Kitty human, not merely iconographic." Kevin Baker, author of The Big Crowd and Paradise Alley
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"A fully-realized portrait of Kitty... Readers won't forget that she was a person, not a player in an anecdote." Cleveland Plain Dealer
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"Smart...suspenseful. [Cook's] reporting...is rich and deep." Michael Washburn Boston Sunday Globe
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"[I]mpressive." Tampa Bay Times
Synopsis
That s the narrative told by the Times, movies, TV programs, and countless psychology textbooks. But as award-winning author Kevin Cook reveals, the Genovese story is just that, a story. The truth is far more compelling and so is the victim.
Now, on the fiftieth anniversary of her murder, Cook presents the real Kitty Genovese. She was a vibrant young woman unbeknownst to most, a lesbian a bartender working (and dancing) her way through the colorful, fast-changing New York of the 60s, a cultural kaleidoscope marred by the Kennedy assassination, the Cold War, and race riots. Downtown, Greenwich Village teemed with beatniks, folkies, and so-called misfits like Kitty and her lover. Kitty Genovese evokes the Village s gay and lesbian underground with deep feeling and colorful detail.
Cook also reconstructs the crime itself, tracing the movements of Genovese s killer, Winston Moseley, whose disturbing trial testimony made him a terrifying figure to police and citizens alike, especially after his escape from Attica State Prison.
Drawing on a trove of long-lost documents, plus new interviews with her lover and other key figures, Cook explores the enduring legacy of the case. His heartbreaking account of what really happened on the night Genovese died is the most accurate and chilling to date.
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Synopsis
In 1964 Catherine "Kitty" Genovese was brutally stabbed to death on her front stoop in plain view of numerous witnesses. Her sensational case provoked an anxious outcry and became the stuff of urban legend. Kevin Cook's "provocative" (Wall Street Journal) investigation upends the simple story we thought we knew. His unprecedented minute-by-minute reconstruction of the crime shatters the fable of the 38 passive witnesses--a myth perpetuated by the New York Times, movies, TV programs, and countless psychology textbooks. For the first time, Cook introduces us to a neighbor who did intervene, and he brings to life a vibrant and charismatic Kitty, working (and dancing) her way through the colorful, fast-changing New York of the '60s.
Synopsis
A new perspective on the murder that has captured America's imagination for over a half-century--"gripping" ().
About the Author
Kevin Cook, the award-winning author of Kitty Genovese, Titanic Thompson and Tommy's Honor, has written for the New York Times, the Daily News, GQ, Men's Journal, Vogue, and many other publications, and has appeared on CNN and Fox TV. He lives in New York City.