2021-09-19
EXCLUSIVE TO PUSHKIN+ MEMBERS: In 1964, Kitty Genovese was repeatedly stabbed outside her New York home. It was widely reported that her neighbors did nothing to help - with only one man bothering to call the police. The awful murder prompted psychologists to investigate the "Bystander Effect" - the notion that groups of people will just ignore a fellow human in need, waiting for someone else to act first. Kitty's kid brother, Bill, was appalled by the inaction of the eyewitnesses to her death. He vowed to always step in to help - an attitude that saw him volunteer for service in Vietnam and a series of brave attempts to help the people he encountered there. Back in the US, Bill tracked down the supposed eyewitnesses - including Kitty's friend Sophia - and found the story of inaction was not the whole truth.