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This week on CounterSpin: The 1964 New York city murder of Kitty Genovese started as a personal tragedy and a tiny item on a New York Times back page. Within months, it had become an internationally known, emblematic tale—not about Genovese, whose life most reports dispensed with quickly with the phrase “Queens barmaid,” or about her killer, Winston Moseley—but about the neighbors, 38 of them, we were told, who reportedly watched Genovese die in the street but did nothing, didn’t come to her aid or call the police. They just, we heard, didn’t want to get involved. The idea of “urban apathy” struck a deep cultural chord that resonates to this day.

But what if the tale we’ve all heard isn’t true? Marcia Gallo is assistant professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the author of the book “No One Helped”: Kitty Genovese, New York City and the Myth of Urban Apathy. The book disentangles the story from the reality of Genovese’s death and her life and explores the social and historical context in which the fable was created. We’ll hear from Marcia Gallo today on CounterSpin.

Transcript: ‘An Entire Neighborhood Was Defamed’

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First, as usual, we’ll take a look back at recent press, including Canadian fires, Bernie Sanders’ ideas and Paul Ryan vs. Donald Trump.

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