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

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?