Rating: 
Summary: A book for those who have the courage to face the truth.
Review: This is a sobering book that sets the record straight once and for all about a little-known, much-distorted history. As expected, the book has most Japanese readers up in arms with charges of propaganda and fabrication. They can hardly be blamed, of course, since all their lives, they have been spoon-fed by their government a fictional version of WWII that portrays the Japanese as anti-colonial liberators and victims rather than the brutal aggressors that they were. For the information of these indignant Japanese readers, the recollections of Japanese atrocities contained in Iris Chang's book do not originate only from Chinese sources. Over the years, a number of surviving ex-Japanese-soldiers who were in Nanking have come forward to confess to taking part in the atrocities. Anyone who chooses not to believe that the Rape of Nanking ever took place would do well to seek them out for a dose of the truth. To be sure, it would not be easy to locate them, as, for their courageous acts, these confessors have quickly found themselves ostracized by Japanese society, their voices hushed, their memoirs (which a few have written) ignored or even refused publication, their personal safety threatened by Japanese right-wing fanatics. But for their first-hand, indisputable accounts of what indeed happened, it's worth every effort. One may illogically suspect, as many do, Chang of dissembling and fabricating history because she is herself of Chinese descent. But why would these Japanese themselves (the few who have chosen to follow their own conscience instead of the much more convenient route of collective amnesia prescribed by their countrymen, at any rate) want to do the same if it's not true?
Rating:
Summary: Show history some respect.
Review: Judging from the reviews of Iris Chang's book posted here, there's a distinct lack of sympathy for the victims of Nanking not just among Japanese readers, but some Western ones as well. In a review entitled "Re-creating history - Chinese way", a reader claims that the number of people killed in Nanking is closer to tens of thousands instead of 300,000+, and therefore it doesn't qualify as a "holocaust". The same reader also claims that the figure of 300,000+ is an invention of the Chinese government, who uses it to blackmail Japan for economic handouts. So we have a pre-set standard for a holocaust, don't we? Six million dead is a holocaust, but 300,000+ innocent civilians brutally slaughtered is just tough luck, no big deal, isn't it? That certainly seems to be what the reviewer is suggesting, judging from the way he makes light of the massacre. As for his claim that the actual number is tens of thousands, he has conveniently neglected to quote even one reference, saying only that this revised figure is supported by "most serious scholars around the world". Since it's a fact that the Nanking massacre is a little-documented history, one has to wonder where these "serious scholars" have suddenly materialized from. So who's re-creating history here? The Japanese certainly are, as anyone even marginally more informed about Japan than the reviewer will tell you that their government has spared no effort in rewriting history and educating their people on a fabricated, squeaky-clean version of the war, with the Japanese themselves as the real victims. As for Beijing "blackmailing" Japan for economic handouts, a quick glance at Japanese court decisions over the years will clearly show that the Japanese have obstinately and consistently refused to pay any form of compensation to even individual victims of their war crimes. So what economic handouts is this reviewer talking about? Ultimately, his claim is not only spurious, but profoundly insulting to the Chinese people. Since the demise of the Soviet Union, China-bashing has become fashionable in the West. To be sure, the government of China deserves much of the criticism directed against it. But we are dealing with something that happened before the Communists even came to power. What do the innocent victims of Nanking have to do with the current Chinese government? If we can't rise above politics and look at issues of humanity with the clear, unbiased view that they deserve, the future does not bode well for man at all.
Rating:
Summary: Will Japan ever become a truly civilized nation?
Review: If you want a glimpse of the decidedly unrepentent Japanese attitude towards what their country did during WWII, just read through all the reviews here posted by Japanese readers. The typical Japanese reaction to Iris Chang's book ranges from blind hostility to outright denial to accusations against the author of historical fabrications. Quite a few bring up the invasion of Tibet, a later and totally unrelated historical event, in a pitiable and bizarre attempt to somehow gloss over the horrendous barbarisms committed by the Japanese in Nanking. Still others resort to the ultimate insult, charging that most of the roughly 20 million Chinese (a figure accepted by many Western scholars) who died in WWII were actually killed by other Chinese in factional fighting, not by the invading Japanese army. And then, of course, there are those who choose to remember only the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the war and not the events that caused it, which enables them to make the absurd claim that they, the Japanese, were the real victims of the war. Sadly, even in the face of overwhelming and incontrovertible evidence of Japanese war crimes, these attitudes are very pervasive among all classes of the Japanese people, from their government leaders on down. If the Japanese ever hope to transcend mere yen power and gain the respect of other peoples as a truly upright, enlightened, civilized nation, they would do well to face up to, and take responsibility for, history and their own past. (For those who want a more in-depth look at present-day Japan's revisionist attitude towards WWII, I also recommend two other books: Pearl Harbour Ghosts and The Wages of War.)
Rating:
Summary: Great book for the Japanese.
Review: The book is an excellent account of what the Japanese did during their invasion of China and what they continue to deny, officially and unofficially, to this day. I also refer to the two previous reviews submitted here. In his critique of the book, Mr. Gilbert Konishi found it necessary, for some reason, to bring up the matter of Tibet. Is Mr. Konishi suggesting that, because of what happened in Tibet, the Chinese bloody well deserved all the atrocities committed against them a decade and a half BEFORE? What did the hundreds of thousands of innocent victims of the Rape of Nanking have to do with Tibet anyway? Was it right that they were slaughtered and raped and multilated in a holocaust because of something that took place at a later point in history? It's one thing to see China as the Evil Empire; it's quite another to endorse the depravity and bestiality committed against the people of Nanking just because they happen to be Chinese, Mr. Konishi. Or is your last name warping your sense of humanity and history? In the review before Mr. Konishi's, Toui from Japan disputes many assertions made by Iris Chang in her book. The only reference on which his arguments are based is a little-known historical work by a Mr. Fujioka and a Mr. Higashinakauo. Toui, therefore, is relying solely on the word of the Japanese themselves, who are, of course, world-renowned for distorting and revising history to serve their own purposes (the glossing over of the Rape of Nanking itself in Japanese high school textbooks being just one of many examples.) Whatever happened to the balanced, both-sides-of-the-story approach to history? If there are inaccuracies in Iris Chang's book, there's nothing in Toui's argument that can prove that either.
Rating: 
Summary: A detailed book that does a great job!
Review: When I first read this book it seemed like another boring assignment. Boy, was I wrong. It was detailed and great for simple reading. I was hooked after one page. Iris Chang does a awesome job. Although it had graphical descriptions, she writes it so that you can keep reading without being to grossed out. There was a problem that I encountered though. There was a few thing that she(Iris Chang) left some details out. Overall though, this is a detailed book on the Nanking Datusha (Great Nanking Massacre) that does a great job shedding light on it. I congragulate this book, which jumped some hurdles and triumphed!
Rating: 
Summary: Re-creating history - Chinese way
Review: There seems little doubt that far too many Chinese civilians were unnecessarily killed in Nanjing during WWII. To say that this was a "holocaust" in which 300,000+ people were slaughtered smacks of Beijing's perennial propaganda campaign. The communist regime has blackmailed Japan for decades based on this "history" to extract various economic handouts. Today most serious scholars around the world believe the Nanjing death toll was closer to tens of thousands and, though horrifying enough, did not come even remotely close to the scale of the European holocaust. Besides this is a claim of the government that still teaches its school children that the Korean War began as a result of an invasion by "American imperialist devils" and that the Chinese and North Koreans fought back "in self-defense". Frightening indeed.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book!
Review: This is an extremely interesting book and it clearly describe what cruelty Chinese in Nanking is subjected to. As a Chinese, I grew up listening to stories of how Chinese in China and South East Asia are tortured and killed by the Japanese during WWII, however I was quite surprised at the lack of articles or books on this topic. You wouldn't understand my joy when I saw this book! Japanese have always denied their cruelty and bruteness during the WWII, they should read this book and believe that everything in this book is true. I'm looking forward to more books about Japanese's behavior during the WWII, especially more on Japanese's cruelty to Korean! I really recommend everyone to read this book!
Rating:
Summary: This book should open up the discussion further
Review: I agree with Mr. Barron T. Laycock's wordy comments on this book in many ways, but this war nerd seems to be a follower of Edward Teller, and I think there is no way to justify his illusion behind his retinas that only reflect the mushroom-shaped cloud making people at ease. Even though points that Barron has made sound appearently convincing, his criticism is still shallow, and he is partial in understanding cultures. Not because the fact that his series of political propaganda (most of his reviews including the one on the Rape of Nanking) for his blind obedience to nuclear weapons upsets me, but because his so-called intellectual words simply stink, I must tell readers to realize some similarity between his way of thinking (logos-centrism) and the ideology that the beasts from the Japanese militaries during World War II had. In my analysis, Barron's justification of use of nuclear arms is based on his unconscious image of Jesus slaughtering nations with his bloody sword that appears in the Revelation of the Bible. (By the way, one of those famous atom bombs was dropped targetting on a Japanese Christian church! If you doubt, check it out by yourself.) Jesus Christ, a god of peace and love, is armed in the Revelation for some reason (Why was he persecuted, then? Why did he create a snake in Eden?), and this distorted belief of salvation is casting a shadow on Christianity and on some extremists (especially, among the military industry), I think. And, before World War II, similar distortion had occurred in Japanese Shinto, acclaiming the super power of their militaries. Around that time, People in Japan probably had nothing to do except to follow their military solution. My point here is that there is always potential danger in each individual and each race to fall down in the trap of their own diabolic act of violence accelerated by collective dissonance and the catastrophical bias in minds. I know Japanese government is responsible for the attack of Pearl Harbor. And, I know their treatment for the wounds of the countries in Asia has not reached to the point of international consensus. However, if we keep blind obedience to any military power, in the end, just as Dr. Einstein said, we will all become beasts that can fight only with stone axes. There is no benefit in following the military industry. But, Barron's writing somewhat appears to be just his campaign provocative of the military force in general. Because I have an antipathy against the weapon industries more than against Japanese cars, I also have to say that the saftiness that Japanese cars produce has saved countless human lives. And, I don't think that number is fewer than the Japanese war criminals. Nothing remains the same in this world. Everything is ever changing. If we are always changing, there is hope. A few generations later, we should be changing to something better. I think education and empathy can benefit us, but the military power cannot.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, a long-awaited account of Japanese brutality.......
Review: For too long, American historians have focused on the "victimization" of Japan during WWII as a result of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From debates over museum exhibits to academic hand-wringing over the proper historical emphasis, discussions of the most impactful event on the 20th century have been twisted to ignore realities on ALL sides of the equation. With this book, an uncompromising, unflinching (and remarkably vivid) account of Japan's barabarism in China during the 1930s, we finally understand what it was that the United States was fighting against: inhuman militiarism by Japan in Asia and the Pacific. Every detail is explored, giving the reader a powerful journey to be sure (some passages are extremely difficult to endure, but endure we must), but in the end, we are rewarded by having the lost voices of Chinese victims have their rightful place at the historical table. Some of the tortures inflicted on the Chinese were so savage, so utterly devoid of even a shred of humanity, that it is sometimes hard to believe that anyone could descend to that level of beastliness. However, this is not an anti-Japanese polemic, attempting to bring the current Japanese government to its knees in a flood of tears and cries for forgiveness. Instead, this is an account of what many (especially in the United States) have long forgotten, if they ever remembered in the first place. At the very least, the book can stand as a reminder of the dangers of unchecked militarism.
Rating: 
Summary: The Rape of Nankin
Review: This book is very terrible. Most of hisorians prove these events were not true. She just only troubled unintellectual persons. I am Japanese and,Iwould like to accept only the truth. However, her book is almost wrong. If she criticize Japan, Chaina should accept Tibet massacre. If China don't , she should not have rights to criticize Japan
| 
