Thirty-Eight Witnesses: The Kitty Genovese Case

by A.M. Rosenthal

"Rosenthal told a stunning, tragic story and called each one of us to account for averting our eyes and hearts and voices." - Mike Wallace, 60 Minutes

It remains one of the most notorious deaths in New York City history not because of who was murdered but because of the circumstances: 28-year-old Kitty Genovese was brutally murdered, in an attack that took nearly thirty minutes and had thirty-eight witnesses...not one of whom did a thing to stop the murderer or even call for help.

A.M. Rosenthal, who would later become one of the most controversial editors The New York Times has ever had, was the newspaper's city editor then; the murder happened on his beat. He first published this book in 1964, the year of the murder. It is part memoir, part investigative journalism, and part public service.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Psychology, History, Crime, Mystery, 20th Century

100 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

Reviews

[George · Rating 2 out of 5]

INTERESTING, BUT UNSATISFYING.

“…is the ugliness in the number or is it in the act itself, and are thirty-eight sins truly more important than one?” (Kindle Locations 345-346).

I have been intrigued with the Kitty Genovese story for more than fifty years, now. So, when A. M. Rosenthal’s book: Thirty-eight Witnesses: The Kitty Genovese Case turned up as a bargain-priced Kindle ebook, I couldn't resist.

Rosenthal offers a journalist’s perspective of the events and attitudes—fear and apathy—of the period. But, as there probably can never be, he can offer no answer as to why thirty-eight people would turn their backs to a neighbor’s desperate cries for help.

We can only hope that today, with the easier to use, more familiar, emergency 911 dispatchers, there would be less resistance to at least calling for help for a stranger in need. Wishful thinking, perhaps? Perhaps not.

Recommendation: One of the strangest of true-crime stories of a bygone era. Worth the 99¢ I think I paid for it.

“Indifference to one’s neighbor and his troubles is a conditioned reflex of life in New York as it is in other big cities.” (Kindle Locations 931-932).

Open Road Media. Kindle Edition. 1014 Kindle Locations

[Sheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

This case has always intrigued me, it’s about a young woman, Kitty Genovese who was murdered in 1964. She was coming home after closing a bar that she managed to her safe, neighborhood in Queens. She is being followed by a man who randomly follows women home who are driving alone at night to kill them. While she’s parking her car she notices the man is approaching her so she tries to get to a police call box to call for help. He's on her before she can get there and stabs her in the stomach, she cries out for help, several times. The lights are being turned on in the building of her home and several windows were opened and some people are shouting out for the man to leave her alone, they are more irritated by being woken up at 3:00 AM than hearing a woman fight for her life.

The assailant runs from the scene after the first attack which gives Kitty time to try to make it to the door of her home. He's come back to finish what he started while she's still screaming out for help. He finally stabs her in the throat to stop her from screaming. All the while thirty-eight people are watching. Anyone of them could have picked up their phone and dialed "0" to get help if they didn't want to physically get involved. It didn't seem to take much to scare the man off since they had already done it once. One man calls the police but it was too late, he calls from a neighbor's phone after he calls his friend for advice. It's unbelievable.

This is a short book that was written from a famous newspaper editor’s point of view, he is so torn as to why no one bothered to call the police sooner and what stopped them. He sends a reporter out there to interview some of the witnesses and also get the feel of the neighborhood. The excuses he gets are just awful, it's like they didn't care. They didn't want to get involved that's the bottom line. Some would have the nerve to blame the police, from past bad experiences that they had when talking to them.

It’s was interesting to read how archaic police communications were back then. This crime did prompt a change in police communications in New York city. Even though if they would have been called while the first attack was waking was taking place, Kitty's life would have been saved.

I was disappointed in the fact that the book didn't focus more on the crime and the investigation itself. It was a bit dry in places when the author would make comparisons regarding what he saw while he was a foreign correspondent in third world countries and what happened that night in Queens, it's was almost like he was wrestling with his own conscience.

This book was mainly from a journalistic point of view. I felt I reading a personal journal of the author's account of his feelings regarding this incident.

I would like to thank Open Road Media and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this e-galley to read and give my honest opinion.

[Lennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Catherine Genovese worked as a bar manager and on the night of March 13th she was returning home from work to her apartment in Queens. It was 3 am when she pulled into the parking lot to park her car. There was a man nearby watching her and when she finally noticed him she hurriedly walked away but he pursued her and then when he finally caught up to her, he stabbed her. Over the next half-hour he would stab her, leave and then return to seek her out and stab her again while she tried to crawl away to safety. Neighbors who heard her scream and cry out for help never walked down the stairs to help her nor did they even call the police. Her murder became a symbol of apathy that seems to spread throughout urban communities.

Reading about this true crime story evoked a lot of emotions in me and it made me wonder how this could have happened. How could thirty-eight people hear this woman scream while she lay dying and not get involved? It’s a shame to think that as a society, this is what we’ve become. If this is the case then we need to examine ourselves so that we can fix the deficiencies that prevent us from being better human beings towards one another.

[Christian Engler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not that far back, I was with a group of friends and one of them recounted how he had seen a woman fall in front of a restaurant. We inquired if she had gotten up, and he said no. But, he insisted, other people were there to help. We asked why he did not volunteer to help the injured woman. He said that he would have been more of a burden than a help. And it was through this simple discussion that the case of murdered New Yorker Catherine "Kitty" Genovese popped up.

A.M. Rosenthal's little book, consisting of only 69 pages, is really an essay on the dangers of apathy and inaction. It details only the facts and is not laced with personal opinions. It does not offer any psychological insights nor expert viewpoints in relation to the criminality of the human mind. All that is given is just the cold hard facts. And sometimes that alone is sufficient, especially in this case.

At three in the morning on March 13, 1964, Kitty, as she was commonly referred to, was returning home to Kew Gardens in the borough of Queens after her bar shift was completed. Upon exiting her vehicle, she saw a man in the darkened shawdows, stealthily moving towards her. The man in question was Winston Mosley, a married man with two kids, a house and a good paying job. But on that particular night, while his wife worked the evening shift as a nurse, he deliberately scoped and prowled the area with the sole intention of committing murder on a helpless woman, all because he simply felt like it. Sensing the danger that she was in, Kitty Genovese ran towards a police call box, but it was too late, for he stabbed her repeatedly as she screamed at full volume, "He's trying to kill me."

Witnessing this were thirty-eight neighbors, who watched from their windows and yet, did nothing. Even before the attack and rape happened, people saw and knew that something vile was going to take place. And when it did and the screams became audibly clear in the crystal cold night, apathy soaked the consciences of those who were privy to the dark happenings while they sat on their perch and watched. Nobody picked up a phone to call the police while tortured screams saturated the night. People were at a standstill and others simply went back to bed, even though they knew full well what was happening. One witness said that he just didn't want to be bothered.

Rosenthal's pamplet is an excellent piece of journalism, because it is not embossed with any calibur of bias. It is not embellished in order to evoke feelings that are favored to sway in any particular direction. It is an apolitical work. Yet, Rosenthal has enough confidence in his readers and in their intelligence to just leave it alone at the facts and nothing else. He also does not pass judgement on the witnesses, not profiling them in any way or putting them in compartmentalized boxes with labels that only a neophyte psychoanalyst could come up with. He does his job and reports the facts alone. By so doing, he shines a light to the reader and makes them reflect, What if I was one of those thirty-eight witnesses? What would I have done?

Journalism of this nature is unfortunately a dying craft; the media on both sides of the spectrum do seem to have their favorates. And they make it blatantly known. But what this work is really great at showing-by the facts alone-is that Catherine Genovese was a human being who had something absolutely horrible befall her. He death was not in vain, as is showcased in numerous laws and conferences bearing her name, each avenue exploring apathy and indifference and what can happen if they are married into violent crimes. Thirty-Eight Witnesses was an eye-opening work that had a powerful message to convey.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very slim volume (even with two new introductions it's only sixty pages) about the notorious 1964 murder case where nobody lifted a finger to help the victim. The author admirably set out to write about more than the crime itself, but ends up talking mostly about himself and the newspaper culture (he was a longtime New York Times editor and this edition includes a worshipful tribute to him). Despite all the lofty rhetoric, the insight contained here would barely fill a thimble.

[Sketchbook · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the sickest -most- evil men of the late 20th C.
Ev'thing he wrote was a lie.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to read this book because as a true-crime aficionado, I thought it might be a more in-depth examination of the murder of Kitty Genovese. If you've ever flipped through a psychology or sociology textbook, you've probably seen a blurb about her murder. Kitty was a 28 year old woman who was murdered near her home in Queens, New York by a man who was scared off twice by neighbors, but ultimately returned to finish her off. It was later revealed that there were over 30 witnesses to her murder who did nothing because ... well, lots of reasons.

Anyway, I was hoping there would be more focus on the true-crime part, though there was some. The photographs of the crime scene helped to visualize where everything was. But there really wasn't very much more here than there is in a typical psychology or sociology book. Much of the book was focused on the sociological reasons that the witnesses had for not coming out to help. And there was a lot of soul-searching from the journalists assigned to the case. I'm glad that this book was only 112 pages or I might have not read all of it.

[Icy-Cobwebs-Crossing-SpaceTime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review: THIRTY-EIGHT WITNESSES by A.M. Rosenthal

On March 13, 1964, a twenty-eight-year old woman died in Queens, New York--brutally murdered. Perhaps the initial assault could not have been circumvented--but more than likely the second and third attacks, and her death, could have been avoided IF thirty-eight residents who heard her screams had even tried to intervene, or to call police.

THIRTY-EIGHT WITNESSES is not a true-crime account, nor technically is it initially a book. A. M. Rosenthal was the Metropolitan editor of the New York Times, a journalist of repute and long standing.
For Mr. Rosenthal, what mattered was both maintaining respect for the deceased, who had suffered so brutally, and exploring the context of the "thirty-eight witnesses" who remained silent and uninvolved, in the wider context of the meaning and consequences for society and culture.

[CL · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a true story and a sad story of the lack of concern for a fellow human being by people who could have helped with a simple phone call. In the early hours of March 13th in 1964 a young woman is coming home from work. As she exits her car she doesn’t notice the man watching her until he starts to follow her. As she hurries to get away the man attacks and stabs her repeatedly over a period of 35 minutes. There were 38 people in the apartments that heard her cries for help and no one intervened or called the police. Some admitted they did not want to get involved and others could not be bothered. Had a single person made any effort the story might have had a different ending but as they all did nothing a woman lost her life and this books covers the sad story. I would like to thank the publisher and Net Galley for a chance to read this true crime story.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had never heard of this case and thought the title sounded interesting. It happened in Queens, in 1964. It is so horribly sad that Kitty Genovese was attacked three times and brutally murdered on the street after getting off work at night. But what is more horrifying is that thirty-eight people heard her cries for help and did not call the police! I would expect that more from today's times than in 1964.

This is a short book that basically gives you the journalist side of the story. At times, I slogged my way through it. I would have liked to have know more about Kitty.

It was an okay book but a bit boring in spots. I'd like to read more accounts of this true crime.

* I received an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thirty-Eight Witnesses: The Kitty Genovese Story
A.M. Rosenthal

How low can people sink?

this was a very difficult book to read. I was a freshman in highschool when this crime occurred, and it brought back all the rawness and horror of the crime. I remember it vividly and how people could be so callous and unfeeling. from reading other reviews some say that people did help. Regardless I had not heard of that. I wish all 38 people had helped. It says a lot about human nature. I only hope when faced with the same type of predicament, I will stand up and do what is right and not hide behind curtains like cowards.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a sad account of one young woman's murder in the middle of the night/early morning hours in New York as 38 witnesses watched and/or heard her screams for help for over 30 minutes. Yet no one even called the police.

I personally remember when this story came out and the shock that no one even called as this woman was being murdered. It's horrible to read about.

Recommendation: I think this is a good book to read to remind ourselves that we are part of the problem or part of the solution. We need to watch out for each other.

[AdiTurbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating explanation of the famous case of Kitty Genovese, how the media story around it developed and its consequences. Short and to the point, this book is an eye-opener on how the horrid, disturbing murder of a young woman became so iconic, how it was perceived by the different sides involved in it, and how it influenced all of our lives, even far beyond New York and the States. Recommended.

[Kyle Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't very impressed. Very short and not very informational, on a psychological or fact only level. Basically felt like reading a long amateur editorial. I think I was just expecting something very different - such as an in depth analysis of why the witnesses did not come forward, etc.

[Merel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected more from this book. I ordered it online, and I was surprised that it was such a small, thin book. The book feels more like a memento for the writer, than a serious attempt to research the whole case.

Disappointing.

[Fishface · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disturbing little book about the Kitty Genovese murder. Effective and chilling.

[Kalyn Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I expected

Too many things that had nothing to do with the story in my opinion and he totally lost me for a while. I would have liked to know more about the victim and they people who investigated. I don’t think I would actually recommend the book.

[Donna Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

AM Rosenthal was a journalist, but in the 1960’s he was moved to write this relatively brief book—if fictional it would be considered a novella—about the failure of neighboring New Yorkers to come to the aid of Kitty Genovese, a woman that was murdered in 1964. I received this DRC free of charge from Net Galley and Open Road Integrated Media in exchange for an honest review.

The crime, one that occurred before drive-by shootings and mass killings in schools and other public places became an all-too-frequent occurrence in the USA, horrified New York and all that heard about it. The killer attacked 28 year old Kitty Genovese as she returned home from work. She lived in a middle class neighborhood, and when police later investigated, they would learn that 38 witnesses heard her scream for help. Nobody called the police until it was too late to save her. This is especially horrifying given that the killer left her bleeding after stabbing her several times, and she had the time, while he moved the car, to approach an apartment building and make her way inside its doors. But before she was able to go further, her murderer parked the car and returned to finish the job. She screamed a number of times, and one man opened his window and yelled at whoever was down there to leave her alone. Later the coroner would testify that had any of the witnesses phoned the police sooner, Kitty could have been saved. Instead she bled to death.

Largely Ronsenthal uses this opportunity to wax philosophical, both about the callous nature of people in general, and of New Yorkers. One New York newspaper managed to infer that it was her own fault by referring to her as a “barmaid” and mentioning that she was not living with her husband; the takeaway from this appearing to be that had she stayed with the mister and been home raising kids, she would not have been in danger. In this instance I think we can surmise that half a century later, any journalist who got that kind of misogynistic garbage past his editor would have heard from readers.

I found this little nugget hard to review. Part of it was due to a stereotype I wasn’t aware I carried; I assumed this attack was somehow related to the mafia (note the Italian last name). Whoopsie! Yes, I know that not everyone that bears an Italian name has a mobster in the family. So it goes.

But also, it’s an unusual piece of writing in that it isn’t really a memoir, isn’t really philosophy, isn’t really sociology. But the overall thesis appears to be that human beings don’t take good enough care of each other. He also uses the occasion to speak in defense of New York cops, who performed their jobs as well as they could in this circumstance. But what timing, given the behavior of NYPD of late! The piece hasn’t really aged all that well.

The writer speaks of a time in India when he himself failed to help others, a time when he regularly strolled past beggars that were ragged, often badly disabled or diseased, and he didn’t help them. He brought this item back time and again to where it felt a little like breast-beating and gnashing of teeth. I wasn’t interested in providing the author with the catharsis he seemed to be reaching for. For that, get a therapist already!

In all, I think his narrative is probably geared more toward native New Yorkers, and since the event is long gone and doesn’t really have a modern parallel, the niche that may be interested has shrunk to New Yorkers of Social Security age.

The writing was fluent, as one might expect of a seasoned journalist, but its prime period has come and gone. I was happy to read it free, but would not have wished to pay for the privilege.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sad thing when 38 people ignore a cry for help.

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true crime story and reissue of a book and story, about a women Kathy Genovese who was stabbed to death in a middle class neighborhood, Key Gardens of Queens. The author takes you through the crime. How the he assailant after the first attack was able to leave move his car, change his hat, come back and kill and rape just steps from her door. The attack lasted a little longer than a half hour and yet there was 38 witnesses and no one called for help. When you read this story you have to realize this took place in 1964, and the author had been overseas for 10 years and had just come back to New York to for the Times. While being told this story by the Police Commissioner. He is really giving his outlook on what we have become since he left and has come back to America. He is also wondering where we are heading to. Well this was 1964 and who would know that just in a few short months the across the country that there would be multiple riots, and that this crime of no one coming forward was really just the beginning of more and more of crimes being committed and people across the country not wanting to get involved and saying nothing. The real tragedy is and was is that if someone would have called at the first attack she would have lived. This is all explained in this book, and really all this book or story did was make me upset and mad at how we became as a nation and most people don’t care and it has been going on for decades. A good book especially if you are into true crime. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 4 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

38 people stand by in their apartments in the early morning hours as a 28-year-old woman is stabbed and finally raped and killed over a half hour period. The witnesses yell out a few times prompting the attacker to leave and then return when they fail to act. The experts are convinced that the victim, Kitty Genovese would have survived had the witnesses acted or simply called the police. Indeed when one of the 38 finally called the police only after consulting a friend over the phone, the police arrived two minutes later. Two minutes too late. The experts all agreed on the source of the problem-apathy.

There in a nutshell is what happened in 1964. A true cautionary tale of the selfish and brutal detachment of human beings. Sadly, none of this was fully addressed. There is so much that this book could have touched upon. I certainly was expecting to find out about the victim, her murderer and the individual witnesses who failed to act and why. There was scant information about the murderer's subsequent trial and conviction and meager quotes from unnamed witnesses. A truly tragic tale that could have been more fully addressed. In the end, the book does manage to encourage the reader to be more aware of the suffering and pain that we ignore all around on us on a regular basis. One is reminded of the oft quoted Burke: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

[Tracy Shephard · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1964 Catherine Genovese was attacked 100 yards from her home by a knife wielding man, he stabbed her to death and then ejaculated on her body.

38 people witnessed the attack, one man even shouted at Winston Moseley to 'leave that girl alone'. Yet no-one called the police or went to help her.

Three time Winston was scared off , by the neighbours lights going on or windows being opened so people could see where the screams of Catherine were coming from, and three times he returned to stab her again, eventually killing her.

Catherine Genovese was a barmaid, separated from her husband who 'ran around with the wrong crowd.

Thirty Eight Witnesses examines why these neighbours, some of whom were probably friends with Catherine didn't help in here time of need.

Winston Moseley confessed to two other murders and several muggings, and right up to 1995 he was appealing his sentence of life imprisonment, which was commuted from a death sentence.

There are more questions than answers with this read, one being what was the social conscience and moral obligations of the 38 people involved. Another being what would you, yourself have done if you had been there on that fateful night.

The excuses of the potential witnesses range from, 'I didn't want to get involved' to 'I thought it was a lovers quarrel'. This 100 page true tale makes you wonder.

[Codi · Rating 2 out of 5]

While reading this book, I felt like I was reading an extremely long newspaper article. I often found myself being bored, asking questions that never get answered, and wondering more about the victim herself, the witnesses, the police officers. There was virtually no character build up, it begins as an article and ends much the same way. We never find out any personal information about the murder victim, Genovese Case, which left me feeling disconnected with her murder. We hear about the witnesses as a whole but never on a personal level or by individual. The book was extremely short which I read ahead of time in multiple reviews but I figured it was the type of book to get right to the point. Get to know the murder victim, the crime and the trail that followed. In reality, we hear a little of the crime, it includes a few photos of the neighborhood it happened in (which I did like) and it goes right into a lot of the authors opinions and different psychologists theories. I was pretty let down reading this.. I felt like it could have been so much more, and better written and really drawn in the readers. If you are looking for a very long New York Times style article, this is the book for you!

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember learning about the Kitty Genovese case during one of my college psychology courses and being troubled by it, deeply troubled. What stuck in my mind was the impulse each of us has buried within us to turn away from someone in need -- an impulse that proved irresistible for thirty-eight people early one morning on March 13, 1964 when Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in Queens, New York.

As he delves into the reasons why those thirty-eight witnesses chose not to take action, writer A.M. Rosenthal poses the question: "How far away do you have to be to forgive yourself for not doing whatever is in your power to do?" It is a question we must each ask ourselves, and one that, no matter how good we each think we are, has no easy answer.

It strikes me that I'm reading this slim but powerful book about Ms. Genovese's murder almost exactly 45 years to the day of her death. The message is as dire and unsettling now as I imagine it was when the public first learned of the incident: Would you turn away?

If there's anything I take from this, it's the resolution not to turn away.

[Sunsettowers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a review. This did not effect my opinions of the book, or the review itself.

I distinctly remember being shocked and horrified by this case when I first learned about in my Social Psychology class in college. As I began to read more and more true crime, I sought out books on Kitty Genovese (two of which have recently been published, only one of which I have so far read).

This is the original book on the subject, reissued for a new generation of readers hungry to understand just what happened. Rosenthal was a newspaper editor who not only sent his reporters out on the case, but was the first to break the story of the thirty-eight witnesses and their famous "apathy".

Though the book originally came out over 40 years ago, it still feels relevant today. Rosenthal forces his readers to examine the hard-hitting questions no one truly likes to think about:

What would I myself have done if I was one of those thirty-eight?

Would I have acted any differently?

Do I act any differently in my everyday life?

Am I just the same as those thirty-eight infamous witnesses?

[Veronica Rivera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talk about a book to make you think about what would I do? The murder of Kitty Genovese took place in 1963, with the essay from A.M. Rosenthal out in 1964 and a 2nd run in 1999. What struck me about the whole thing was that this could happen today, and we would probably have the same result. Why would 37 people not step forward to help and why would one wait until he called a friend to ask what he should do finally call the police. The book made me wonder who to be upset with, the witnesses? The murderer? The police? Myself? We would like to think that we would help someone in need, but how many of us actually do. How many current crimes have we seen on TV where the reporter states if only...or if anyone has information to help the investigation. This happened in the 1960's, but take the same circumstances and apply them to 2018, what would happen today? What would be different? I would recommend this account to anyone, it will leave asking questions of yourself and your friends, neighbors and family. Great commentary on the state of "apathy " in America that has existed since the 1960s.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

On March 13, 1964 Catherine “Kitty” Genovese was returning home from work around 3am when she was brutally attacked and murdered near her building. The attack took place over a period of thirty five minutes with thirty eight people in nearby apartments listening to her screams but not helping or calling the police.

This short true crime book mainly covers the journalistic side of the case of Catherine Genovese and the fact that so many people were a witness to the crime but did not help in any way. Had any one of them called for help shortly after hearing Kitty scream she would have survived the attacked. There is a a few short explanations of the entire episode of the attack with a few images of where it took place and a bit of a follow up on what happened with the attacker but the majority is focused on the lack of help.

Overall, not a bad read but felt it could have covered the actual crime a bit more.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.wordpress....

[Sarah Ross-Koves · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much more than a journalist's account of a horrific crime silently witnessed by thirty-seven bystanders. This 100-page account from New York Times editor and reporter A.M. Rosenthal is an gut-wrenching account of society standing by as a horrific crime is committed. Rosenthal was the editor of the original reporting on Kitty Genovese's murder outside her apartment building in New York City, and this book is his account of the events. Not only does Rosenthal use the court and police documents, but he was fortunate to have a meeting with the police commissioner.

Not only does Rosenthal recount the events of the murder of Kitty Genovese, he also probes into the lack of motivation in the thirty-eight people who witnessed her murder. Rosenthal seeks to answer the question: Why and how could thirty-eight people do nothing as this young woman was murdered? He also projects the witnesses behavior onto himself and society at large.

Read More: http://kovescenceofthemind.blogspot.c...

[Dr. Tathagat Varma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ever since I heard about the now-famous case of Kitty Genovese being stabbed to death while thirty-eight neighbors "watched" her and none came to help, I was keen to learn more about what really happened that night, and the big question, "why"? Yes, why would thirty-eight neighbors choose to stay silent inside the warm comforts of their homes about a crime happening right under their noses in the wee hours when the victim is slowly dying and is shouting for help?

This short book helped me understand a lot of these questions better, and perhaps very relevant to some of the debate that we are having in India right now about public apathy to crimes against women, or generally any crime or accident where a large crowd gathers but no one comes to help.

Rosenthal has treated the topic with a very different perspective - literally that of an anthropologist. Why does a city like NYC, or any other city for that matter, gets so apathetic that its people learn to live on despite anything and everything going on around them? I think that question is even more pertinent today.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember my US history teacher touching briefly on the events of what happened to Kitty Genovese and it's something that has stayed with me still. All these years later the question of "why?" lingers - why would no one come to aid?, why did no one call the police at the time?, why the wait?, why, why, why...

In reading this essay really, that Rosenthal wrote more than 30 years ago, I'm not only left with the why's but the additional question of what would I have done? First reaction is I would have done something, anything to have helped but the truth is I don't know; I don't know if I would have had the guts to go down there and help, I don't know if it would help or hinder, I don't know if I would have made that call or could have in case I too, made a dash to the police box downstairs, I don't know if it would have made a difference.

Rosenthal has written a truly unbiased piece, stated the facts as they were originally presented as well as the additional information that was sought two weeks after the facts about the murder were printed.