True Crime Club: The Bystander Effect

Join us for an engaging, lighthearted discussion of this fascinating yet disturbing genre. We will focus on uplifting and empathizing with the victims of these crimes. 

This month, we will be reading "Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America" by Kevin Cook.

You can borrow a copy here using your library card.

Summary: 

"New York City, 1964. A young woman is stabbed to death on her front stoop—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 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."

That's the narrative told by the Times, movies, TV programs, and countless psychology textbooks. However, 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."

Genres:

True Crime, Nonfiction, History, Psychology, New York, LGBT

For more information and to join online discussions, please join our Facebook group!