The Secret History of the Rape Kit

Finalist for the Anthony Award • NPR’s “Books We Love 2025”

“Fascinating … Incandescent … Kennedy’s love for her subject reverberates throughout the book.”—New York Times Book Review

“Kennedy works deftly with sometimes scant information, weaving her reporting on Goddard’s life and contribution into the narrative… . A page-turning mystery… . Thanks to Kennedy’s dogged reporting … Goddard can step out from the shadows of history… . Yet Kennedy’s book isn’t just the hero’s journey of a forgotten heroine. It acknowledges that the system works best when it can be improved by those who are most affected by sexual assault—and the women who are willing to risk obscurity or damage to their reputation in order to finish the job Goddard started.”
—The Atlantic

“If the criminal-justice landscape for rape victims remains objectively terrible, it is somewhat less terrible because of Marty Goddard and her comrades in the anti-rape movement of the seventies and eighties. Goddard, who faded into alcoholism and mental illness toward the end of her life, is the tragic heroine of “The Secret History of the Rape Kit.” … This narrative of gendered injustice and the redemptive power of feminist history has an almost mythical force.” —New Yorker

“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

“The Secret History of the Rape Kit” is a relatively slender book, but it packs a punch. It’s an important investigation of a complex inventor, her flawed but revolutionary technology, and how it has never been allowed to live up to her hopes for it.”
—The Washington Post

“Heartening … Kennedy might not have been able to find Goddard but avenge her she has. This book (and a quick internet search where the invention of the rape kit is now correctly attributed to her) is proof.”
—Boston Globe

“There is an underlying anger to [The Secret History of the Rape Kit] that snaps and sparks in the pages—for good reason … Kennedy’s tale is far more than a screed. It is a mystery, a complicated history, a compassionate story of struggle and loss, and a deeply moral inquiry … Kennedy deftly pulls these threads together, leading us to her primary point—that when asked to defend women from male assault, our justice system is reluctant at best and hostile at worst. And perhaps that, as she eloquently reminds us, is the real true crime, the secret we do not want to acknowledge, the failure at the heart of this story.”
—Science Magazine

“Powerfully eye-opening … Vivid and informative … The Secret History of the Rape Kit is fundamental reading for anyone who wants to understand something about social justice, women’s rights, and what the real struggle against sexual violence is. Resilience, courage, and the pursuit of truth-it’s highly recommended!”
—Suspense Magazine

“Exhilarating … Part historical detective story and part vivid character study of a pioneering feminist, this is a page-turner.”
—Publishers Weekly [starred]

“A deep dive … . An essential [book] in true crime, social science, and women’s history.”
—Booklist [starred]

“Kennedy’s tenacious sleuthing reveals a surprising portrait of a defiant, troubled, and mysterious woman. Absorbing detective work.”
—Kirkus Reviews

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.

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