Rating: 
Summary: Apologists for the Japanese should get short shrift
Review: After having read (and reread) Ms. Chang's book, I must confess to feelings of outrage toward the CURRENT Japanese regime. Those who would act as apologists for Hirohito's brutal reign should get short shrift indeed from the international community. The Japanese, in their deliberate distortion of the historical facts, are demonstrating their contempt for thoughtful people everywhere, and their own fanatical egoism when it comes to issues of national pride (or in this case, national shame). Is it an over-reaction to call for a boycott on Japanese goods and services until apologies are tendered to the people of China, and reparations paid to the families of the victims of this ghastly crime? Damn political correctness, damn the economy, and damn tolerance. The Japanese must pay for their evil deeds, just as the German nation did, to the tune of many billions of dollars.
Rating:
Summary: Literally visceral
Review: How can any human being not react emotionally to a telling of this story? Even the most academic or minimalist of techniques cannot erase the fundamental shock of such inhumanity. Even if the numbers of those raped, killed, tortured were incorrect, what is the gauge for determining the immorality of one gang rape, one child being burned alive, one mass live burial? How many does it take for the Japanese government to admit its past wrongs? Every major religion in the world teaches self-examination as a way of personal growth. One cannot advance in life without knowing oneself. To deny self-examination is a form of moral suicide. While it is true that inhumane acts exist everywhere, it is no excuse for failing to understand one's own history. Each reader has his or her own anecdotal experiences with brutality in China, the U.S., and elsewhere. But to state, as one reader from Japan did, that these acts render the Chinese "[incapable] of freedom or the responsibility that goes with it" is to deny the basic humanity of a nation. He called the Chinese "unmanageable." Surely, the Chinese are not for him or any other external agent to "manage"? To state, from the privileged and comfortable standpoint of a nation that has benefitted tremendously from Western aid, not only financially but politically and culturally, that a poorer, more populous, less developed nation is incapable of self-government, is to raise the ugly head of racial supremacy, a concept that dies hard in Japan. My hope is that the book has found a publisher in Japan courageous enough to bring it out in Japanese translation, so that the Japanese people, not the government or a few biased readers, can judge for themselves. As the conflict in Kosovo has proved, cultural memory survives for epochs. Sixty years may be a long time in the span of one human life, but it is a blip in history. The Chinese have been here for five thousand years. Their suffering, anger, pain, and remembrance, too, will survive.
Rating:
Summary: A history that I now know too well.
Review: Before this book, I had never heard of the Nanking Massacre. If I had not read it, I probably would never have known about it. Yet after reading it, I asked my grandparents about it. Let me just say that this book directly corresponds with what they told me. My grandmother and her parents fled their homes near Nanking when it fell. Her grandmother refused to leave. She said that the Japanese would do nothing to an old woman and she did not want to leave their homes. Later, it turned out that they not only killed her- but sliced her in two. Perhaps I'm sounding much too gruesome, but I need to say it just to tell the people that said this book was not correct that it is. I read The Rape of Nanking thinking that it was simply something that happened some time ago, not an important issue to me. But the very fact that my great-great grandmother was killed in a way that was despicable and terrifying makes me feel a connection to anybody who died or lived through this tragedy. Please don't deny the truth about it. Please don't pretend that it wasn't as horrible as it really was. By doing so, you are letting the memory of an 100,000-350,000 people go to waste.
Rating:
Summary: Sobering account of barbaric behavior of a world power
Review: Frightening account of what the Japanese were really like in WW2 when they captured a perceived enemy. They have never apologized or made restitution for their soldiers unforgivable behavior. Japan should bow it's head in shame for this unspeakable act of uncivilized behavior. Japan deserved the atomic bomb and worse just for what they did in Nanking.
Rating:
Summary: An extremely powerful and revealing book
Review: This book literally took my breath away. I know that people in Hong Kong have an enormously deep grudge against the Japanese and yet I never fully understood the enormity of their actions against innocent civilians. Having studied the second World War at school in England, I immediately felt annoyed that we had so lightly touched upon the war in the Pacific, learning simply about the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan and immediately feeling that we, the Western allies had been at fault against the Japanese civilians and I was now finally able to learn of some of their motives for their actions. I was truly frustrated to find that I could not find a copy of this book at any major bookshops throughout England, although not meant this is again hiding the truth, or at least a point of view.
Rating:
Summary: POWERFUL BEYOND BELIEF
Review: Iris Chang did a great job to bring to the world's attention this horrible atrocity committed by the invading japanese forces on the chinese civilians. It goes to show that without restraint, how otherwise a "normal person" could have taken part in such unspeakable horror. The Nanjing massacre must not be forgotten.
Rating:
Summary: Put your ego aside, sort out the truth
Review: A number of Japanese readers, for "patriotic" reasons, gave lower rating to the book.I advised them that truth is more important and do not pick "stones from inside an egg" to attack the author. Put your ego aside. And let's face the history, the reality, the truth and do something constructive. If you ever think your little bit political wording game could save your army from the crime, think it again. I recommended the book to everyone, even my 10 years son, not to implant hatred, but to show him how to face truth and learn something from it ---- and how difficult is it for you to do the same thing?! I am outraged by your tactics and shame for you!
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Summary: A Must-Read to know Practical Importance of Peace and Truth
Review: Three out of the four of my grandparents died as victims of Japanese invasion. They were all innocent civilians. My parents, who narrowly escaped, still have vivid memory about the horror but never revealed the details of the crimes conducted by the Japanese soldiers to us. It is so painful even trying to recollect the history. Now this book told me what ACTUALLY took place, in a way that made me question the fundamentals of human nature. While I reflect on how brutal humanity and civilization could be killed by bullets, I still do not know why human beings could do such mean things to their fellows. This book should be read for anyone who wants to search for the answer, and more importantly, reflect upon the brutal naked truth. It is this kind of brutality, and the persistent denial by the Japanese authority to the truth, that inflicts pains to humanity and could eventually rape and destroy it all together.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting Sino-centric description of events
Review: The author is a journalist, but no historian. The chronology of events listed and the dates are in disagreement with many other histories, including the 'official' accounts given by the KMT government. This book is written to evoke great amounts of emotion, but begins to show many weaknesses when viewed by those with any historical knowledge. This is a good book to add to a collection of works about WWII history, but the reader should definitely read other accounts in order to not be sucked in by the inaccuracies and sensational journalism in Chang's portrayal of a historical event. Just as one does not rely solely upon the National Enquirer to learn about the news, one should not take this book's version of history at face value. The book, "When Tigers Fight" give a better account of events during this part of World War II and is recommended for further reading.
Rating:
Summary: Mindblowing account that EVERYONE should read !
Review: After I finished The Rape of Nanking, I was breathless and the pages were streaked with tears. It is a phenomenal description of a historical event that has been neglected in the textbooks of World History books all over the world. Iris Chang's partitioning of the book illuminated the event from the Japanese, Chinese, and European points of view. The anecdotes and statistics she chose all culminated to make a earth shattering point. It is a remarkable study on human psychology and on the cycle of history. Anytime anyone has ever asked me for a book recommendation I would advise this book. It changes one's outlook on the world. The Rape of Nanking is as critical to our human history as more highly publicized atrocities like the Jewish holocaust or the Cambodian genocide. The book should not be read for its literary technique ( which I think was superb ) but for the heart of the matter. Iris Chang dared to break a taboo on a topic so rarely spoken of; she dared to tell the stories of victims who have concealed their tales for decades. I can't acclaim this book enough; the only way to understand the power of this book is to read it for yourself.
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