The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story

"Pagan Kennedy’s book tells the story of the United States through the frame of The Secret History of the Rape Kit. The “box that holds DNA evidence collected after a sexual assault” was something that had to be invented and then disseminated. The woman who fought for it, Marty Goddard, and her untold story are the heart of this book – one of the best I read this year. As Kennedy told NPR in an interview, Goddard “created the idea that every survivor had the right to file evidence and to be treated with respect and to have that evidence taken seriously.” That should not be remarkable, but it was."