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A True Crime Story
by Pagan Kennedy
Marty Goddard dreamed up a new crime-solving tool—a kit that could help rape survivors fight for justice. This thrilling investigation tells the story of the troubled, heroic woman who kicked off a feminist revolution in forensics, and then vanished into obscurity.
In 1972, Martha "Marty" Goddard volunteered at a crisis hotline, counseling girls who had been molested by their fathers, their teachers, their uncles. Soon, Marty was on a mission to answer a question: Why were so many sexual predators getting away with these crimes? By the end of the decade, she had launched a campaign pushing hospitals and police departments to collect evidence of sexual assault and treat survivors with dignity. She designed a new kind of forensics tool—the rape kit—and new practices around evidence collection that spread across the country. Yet even as Marty fought for women's rights, she allowed a man to take credit for her work.
When journalist Pagan Kennedy went looking for this forgotten pioneer, she discovered that even Marty Goddard's closest friends had lost track of her. As Pagan followed a trail of clues to solve the mystery of Marty, she also delved into the problematic history of forensics in America. The Secret History of the Rape Kit chronicles one journalist's mission to understand a crucial innovation in forensics and the woman who championed it. As Pagan Kennedy hunts for answers, she reflects on her own experiences with sexual assault and her own desire for justice.
"Pagan Kennedy's book is astonishing in every way that matters. The Secret History of the Rape Kit is the story of hidden genius and the centuries-long fight for women to simply be recognized and heard. Marty Goddard as a footnote in history takes her rightful place as a visionary thanks to Kennedy's relentless investigation. This book is gripping, vulnerable, assured and way overdue." —Rachel Louise Snyder, author of Women We Buried, Women We Burned and No Visible Bruises
"In The Secret History of the Rape Kit, Pagan Kennedy deftly weaves genres to create an absolutely compelling book that melds true crime, memoir, biography, social history and a personal, impassioned quest. I raced through it, gripped from start to finish." —Kate Moore, New York Times bestselling author of The Radium Girls and The Woman They Could Not Silence
"The Secret History of the Rape Kit is stunning: part thriller, part feminist reclamation, part personal journey, fully a page-turner. How did we not know about Marty Goddard? How have we not recognized her crucial role in establishing rape as an actual crime? I finished this book angry and inspired, but mostly grateful to both Marty Goddard and Pagan Kennedy for their brave and brilliant work." —Peggy Orenstein author of Girls & Sex and Boys & Sex
This information about The Secret History of the Rape Kit was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Pagan Kennedy is the author of eleven books. Her journalism has appeared in dozens of publications, and she has worked as a columnist for The New York Times Magazine, The Boston Globe Magazine, and The Village Voice. She has co-produced and authored a serial podcast for Radiotopia network that won a Webby Award. She has also been awarded a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT, an NEA Fellowship, a Smithsonian Fellowship, and two Massachusetts Cultural Council fellowships.
Libby Lost and Found
by Stephanie Booth
Libby Lost and Found is a book for people who don't know who they are without the books they love.
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