Thirty-eight WitnessesIn a decade scarred by some of the worst tragedies in this country's history, March 13, 1964, stands apart from the other atrocities, not because of the identity of the victim - whose name was not Kennedy, King, or Malcolm - but because of the circumstances. Kitty Genovese was a 28-year-old middle-class woman from Kew Gardens, Queens, whose murder was distinguished by the presence of thirty-eight witnesses who did nothing to stop the series of attacks that would claim her life. The Kitty Genovese murder presses us to ask a litany of questions: Why did these people fail to act? What does it say about the conditions of contemporary urban life? Would it happen today? The account of the story, as related by one of the best-known and most controversial newspaper professionals in the country, is part memoir, part investigative journalism, and part public service. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
A. M. Rosenthal apathy Arthur Ochs Sulzberger asked attacked Austin Street Barbara Kralik bookstore business-machine operator call the police calls are recorded central number citizens Commissioner Communications Bureau complaint crime death desk detectives dispatches door double confession EIGHT WITNESSES emergency calls Emergency telephone erine Genovese fear feel five boroughs Gansberg Genovese story happens Harlem heard involved Kennedy International Airport Kew Gardens killing Lefferts Boulevard live look Lussen Manhattan ment house metropolitan middle-class mind minutes Miss Catherine Genovese Miss Genovese murder Murphy Negro neighbor neighborhood newspaper night O'Connor Ozone Park patrol cars person precincts printed Queens story Queens woman radio car radio room reaction realization reporters and editors screamed seemed shock silent witnesses sociologists stabbed Staten Island story of Catherine sure talked telephone number thing Thirty-eight Witnesses thought tion told turned Turner Catledge walked Winston Moseley write York Yorkers