Rating: 
Summary: Read this and weep
Review: I'm sure anything I have to say would have already been said by the 163 reviewers in front of me. I just want to encourage every Chinese person to read this book and work towards justice for a wrong that has never been fully righted against their people. Globally, this is not just about a people who suffered horribly and needlessly, it is about humanity brutally ripped to shreds. On this note, EVERYONE should read this book and demand justice. I understand that when an atrocity this mind-numbing occurs, no compensation is ever enough. But I believe the Japanese government have a responsibility to fully acknowledge their role as perpetrators of this undeniable and unforgivable atrocity.
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Summary: Ask for authenticity and facts?
Review: If you criticise this book on the ground of accuaracy/authenticity of information and facts, REMEMBER that those innocent Chinese who could be telling you the facts right now were killed by the cold-blooded, invading Japanese, and dead people can not talk. As a former Japanese soldier revealed, they killed those Chinese women after raping them, because dead people can not talk.It was a horrible crime, not a war or battle, because a war or battle is fought over armed forces where casualties are unavoidable. A casualty is a member of armed forces lost through death, wounds, etc. (Webster's Concise Dictionary, 1997, p. 102). Those Chinese who were killed were innocent, unarmed civilians. The Japanese used the slogan of co-prosperity as an execuse to invade China, and killed millions of Chinese. The Chinese did NOT invite them to come to China! And the Chinese did NOT invite them to liberate China from the Western colonization! It does not matter what a democracy Japan is today. It does not matter what China is today. History can not be changed. Let us face it!
Rating:
Summary: very good and gory documentary
Review: the only criticism i have of this book was that documentation of more incidents were not incerpted (too many to mention). rather, it spent an inordinate amount of time justifying the authenticity of the whole gory story-which is justifiable in light of reactions from hard to convince people that this massacre really did not happen or were exagerrated. what do they need? a time machine to go back to those terrible days? do they think the japanese were known to be angels of mercy during the war? were they known to be like that in other conquered lands other than china? let's face it--the ordinary japanese imperial soldier were invaders--they were the huns-their brutality and bestiality paved the way for the nazi's organized violence. that's basically what happens when a disciplined and regimented people are suddenly let loose with so much power of life and death. what about those japanese hard liners denying these things happened: well, nothing can be changed until it is faced-to regret deeply is to live afresh. And with the absence of that--i shall have to think twice now before buying "made in japan".
Rating: 
Summary: Documenting history -
Review: It is not surprising that there are divergent perspectives on a historical event - particularly something as chaotic as a full-scale battle that the Sino-Japanese War was. I think it is important not to use history to vent one's raw hatred and/or to advance one's political agenda - whatever that might happen to be. In such an effort, a bitter battle in a war can become a "holocaust", and frontline brothels "rape camps". Many history books have aided the reconciliation of former foes. This book does not seem to be one of them.
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Summary: I am Japanse who didn't learn anything about this killing
Review: I was very anxious to read book when I saw this book's cover at book store, because I had never really learned about this massacare in school. Actually I knew really little about it, when we studied history there is merely ONE sentence about it saying "Japanse military killed a lot people in Nanking" Do you believe it? It doesn't say how may people were killed or how they got butcherd, and whole page for Atomic bomb. I am glad to know fact which would never been into my knowledge if this book didn't come out. I guess Japanse including me at last will know how brutal Japnese people were. I always had doubt when we pray for peace at atomic bomb day(August 6th) without admitting sins we commited. Japanese people MUST start again for real peace after knowing this incident.
Rating: 
Summary: A GOOD START
Review: I RATE THIS A 2 STARS, BECAUSE IT DIDN'T MAKE ME TO BELIVE EVERYTING IT WAS TRYING TO TELL ME, I AM NOT SAYING THEY WEREN'T TRUE, I'M JUST TRYING TO SAY IF I WAS A JAPANESE PERSON, I WON'T BE CONVINCED BY THIS BOOK. IF THIS BOOK COULD CONVINCE MANY JAPANESE, THEN I WOULD RATE THIS BOOK A 5 STARS. HOWEVER I THINK THIS BOOK WAS A GOOD START IN THIS TOPIC. IT IS WORTH SOME ATTENTION
Rating: 
Summary: We need to rewrite most of history books about WWII
Review: We need this kind of work because we cannot erase history. This story need to be told, over and over again to honor the memory of the ones who died in this incredible and brutal massacre and also as a record of the history for the future generations. The interesting research work of the author tell us the story from the point of view of the victims, the killers and also foreign witness of the massacre. Great Book!
Rating:
Summary: Hard hitting and emotionaly disturbing
Review: I read this book in two ways, first as a student of history, second as a veteran of the SouthEast theater. I found this book to very powerful in its portryal of events. The fanatical ego's of the leaders come vividly to life, and explains the prejudices that were felt by the Japanese troops, towards those of non-Japanese heritage. It also goes on to explain the brutality of the military towards it's own personel. The demeanor of the Army lays the ground work for the attrocities that are committed.
Rating:
Summary: A powerful and compelling book...An act of justice
Review: This is an extremely important book, and I thank Ms. Chang for writing about the unspeakable atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army on Chinese civilians 62 years ago. I saw those gruesome pictures in the book when I grew up in China. As a matter of fact, those pictures shown in the book were well known in China during the war. If some readers actually think those photos were forged as claimed by certain Japanese right-wing "politicians", then it just proves that those right-wing deniers described in Ms. Chang's book are still a powerful force in Japan today. The Japanese propaganda attacking Ms. Chang's book today inevitably reminds me of the Japanese propaganda during the war, because right after the Rape of Nanking, Japanese controlled newspapers printed the headline "The Harmonious Atmosphere of Nanking City Develops Enjoyably" (see p.150, paperback version). Truth is truth; if Japan continues to deny the truth of the Rape of Nanking and not apologize to the victims, Japan will be never respected by the international community and will be looked upon contemptuously by the whole world!
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Summary: History is not objective; state your bias please...
Review: This was an interesting book about a horrific act in a string of atrocities. What's more interesting has been the response to the contents. The comments in the reviews are similar to those on Hurwitz's "Conferates in the Attic" about the US Civil War. Most Yankees liked it, most Southerners panned it. As an American of Chinese descent, I've heard anecdotes over the years about Nanjing, rape camps in Korea, mass burial of live prisoners in Manchuria, starvation of American POW's, etc. This is the lens through which I view the history of WWII and the Japanese generally. I recommend Ms. Chang's book. Is it a perfectly researched historical document? No, but it is well written and puts forth a solid case. Unlike the Jews after WWII, Asians did not document Japanese atrocities and hunt down war criminals. They simply didn't have the resources. The American government needed Japan as a strategic outpost in the Cold War and did not investigate. Thus, Ms. Chang's book is a long overdue first step towards opening discussion and research in the topic.
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