Rating: 
Summary: Face history and apologize to all the Chinese citizens.
Review: The atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers in Nanking sixty-two years ago are revealed to the world in "The Rape of Nanking". Chang has dedicated her book to all the victims of the Nanking massacre. I bought this book and read it a couple of days ago. I almost vomitted when I took a look at the pictures that showed the various ways in which the Japanese soldiers tortured the Chinese people. The Japanese soldiers then were really inhumane and evil. A Japanese version of the book must be published to enable the Japanese to read about the atrocities committed by their ancestors. The Japanese leaders and monarchy should face history and apologize to all the Chinese people for the evil deeds committed by the Japanese military.
Rating: 
Summary: This tale lacks cohesion.
Review: I must concur with many of the reviewers who found fault with TRoN; Chang's book not only lacks proper pacing and flow, it's greatest fault lies in the educated reader's feeling that some of the facts are not sufficiently substantiated. As a high school teacher I have read essays from students who have structured their points of view more coherently than she has. Most often, the events are presented in a jumbled and haphazzard manner, as if Chang is piecing together a collection of war horror stories rather than weaving the facts into a story. It was obvious from the start that the selling point of her novel was the sensationalistic and provoking title and subject matter, not necessarily the way in which the material was presented. Better, less impassioned writers will do a superior job with the material in the future.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent account.
Review: Chang has written an accurate and gripping account of the atrocities committed by the Japanese soldiers in Nanking. The Japanese leaders and monarchy must apologize to all the Chinese people for the atrocities and inhumane deeds that were inflicted on the Nanking citizens back in 1937. For those who wish to find out more about this darkest period in Chinese history, this book is strongly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Historical value?
Review: Chang spends a great deal of time convincing the reader that this was a "horrible atrocity on the level of the holocost"... it had nothing to do with the holocost on practically every level. What's more, Japan has not "forgotten" anything. National educational guidelines are written specifically "to teach children what a horrible thing war is, and that it only goes to harm humanity and the world"... a fine lesson, if there was no war or hatred in the world. Many of the photographs in this book are 1: of questionable origin, 2: mislabled, or 3: proven fakes. The few that remain do not denote location or events. The overwhelming number of "eye-whitness acounts" in this book seem to be presented as having more value than any documentation from the time(little of which is presented), and for a book which upholds the Tokyo Tribunal (called a farce far and wide, in the US and elsewhere) she brushed off the evidence presented (some of which rejected by the tribunal) by the defence... This book may be a good emotional read, but it has little value as a work of historical research.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful!
Review: I generally prefer great war novels like "The Triumph and the Glory" to histories, but this book grabbed my attention because so little has been published in the West about this horrible chapter in history. The Japanese atrocities perpetrated in Nanking are revealed to the world in definitive detail by the author. A highly commendable work.
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Summary: A fascinating account of a forgotten holocaust!
Review: Before I say anything about Ms. Chang's book I'd like to point out that another excellent account of this Chinese tragedy can be found in Pearl Buck's "Dragon Seed", written during the Second World War. And while Ms. Buck's book is technically fiction, it corresponds very closely with the incidents described by Ms. Chang in her book!As for my reaction to "The Rape of Nanking", it's clear that the behavior exhibited by Japanese troops in the 1930's is hardly a thing of the past, what with the "ethnic cleansing" still practiced in the world today. My own reaction upon finishing Ms. Chang's book was THANK GOD FOR THE U.S. MILITARY!!! China was woefully weak both during and preceding World War II, and it's clear that totalitarian nations cannot (and usually will not) keep their troops in check during military campaigns in a foreign land --- and why should they? Their media isn't going to report it anyway! The biggest surprise of Ms. Chang's book was how the one diplomat the Japanese respected was a NAZI --- and he emerges as one of the most notable heroes! Which just goes to show you that courage and noble behavior can sometimes be found in the strangest places!
Rating: 
Summary: A very difficult book
Review: This is a very difficult book to understand, not just because of the subject material (which is beyond the comprehension of the average late 20th Century American), but because of the lack of really good sources. While elements of the book clearly seem implausible (how did 27 Westerners manage to continuously protect and guard 200,000 Chinese in the Saftey Zone? All while finding time to run around stopping atrocities?), one cannot deny the event occured. We are left with tantalizing first-person accounts, but a lack of documentary evidence which leaves us straining to peer through the mists of time. In the end, we just don't know for sure, any more than we know the true details of atrocities today in the Balkans or China. We know atrocities did occur, we can sympathise with the author because Japan's failure to deal properly with its past in the way Germany has is frustrating, and because so many details of the Sino-Japanese conflict are lost to Westerners, while the European conflict is meticulously documented. But, at the end of the day, we still just don't know. We want to believe, but somehow while the stories relayed in the Rape of Nanking are impressive, it feels more like the "historian as copy-typist" that John Keegan indicts in his "Face of Battle". I do not believe that this is serious history in the way that book is. We are asked to take too much on faith. What we end up with is somthing that plays to our emotions but fails to hammer us with compelling scholorship. The Rape of Nanking is like the reports of atrocities coming out of Kosovo today. Compelling story telling, probably true to a greater or lesser degree, but we are left sturggling to identify where the truth really lies. Should this deter us? Perhaps not. Does it really matter if 10,000 or 50,000 or 100,000 acts of unimaginable barbarism were comitted? Is 10,000 or 50,000 acceptable and 100,000 not? What do these numbers really mean across time and generations? However, I feel our response to this book should be not to overrate it as history or scholorship (although some of the work done in tracking down individual sources is impressive), but to remind us how ignorant we (as Westerners) remain about the war in Asia and that the gaps in our knowledge of history simply must be filled in. This book does not do it, but it should be a compelling reminder to us that the truth _is_ out there, and there is no doubt that to deny the past is to deny the future.
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Summary: Disappointing...sloppy scholarship on an important subject.
Review: Although the subject of the book, "The Rape of Nanking," is an important one, the author Iris Chang writes a rather simplistic , stereotyped, and often inaccurate presentation of the events. Since the Rape of Nanking is one of the greatest atrocities of this century, it is especially disappointing that one of the few English books written on this horrible event is done so with sloppy scholarship and mediocre analysis. Many historians have been concerned about her uncritical treatment of her sources, many of which are questionable. Especially frustrating is her frequent speculations and uninspired analysis of events which are patently implausible. I fear that many of the right-wing fringe groups in Japan may exploit the many flaws in her book. The importance of historical accuracy and careful scholarship cannot be stressed enough, especially when it comes to the topics of large-scale atrocities and crimes against humanity. Although it was a noble attempt by Ms. Chang, I'm afraid we would have to look towards the future for a more scrupulous account.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book, revealing and sobering
Review: I was given this book by my father, who was a fugitive from the Japanese kempeitai in Singapore during the war. The account of the Japanese atrocities was at once facinating and horrifying. It is difficult to believe the brutality and scale of bayoneting of babies, beheading of civilians and raping of women. It fills one with a sense of shame to be part of the same species and with anger at the blase indifference and false indignance the Japanese government displays. I found the use of three perspective most engaging. Immersing the reader in the perspective of the groups in turn was an excellent device. In particular the account of the victims made me feel up close the sense of danger and fear for one's loved ones that they must have felt, especially their helplessess at times. Truly this book is a deterrent to all those who seek the glory of war.
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Summary: Should not be the ONLY book you read on this subject
Review: Japan's government has indeed acted cowardly in refusing to face up to the full dimensions of the horrors committed in the name of the Emperor. And yes, there are revisionists claiming Japanese children will suffer emotionally for having been exposed to "fantasies" about sex slavery and the Rape of Nanking. For revisionists history should be a string of happy moral tales that will help children cultivate pride in themselves and their Japanese heritage. It is important to recognize that such an attitude is not necessarily representative of the whole of Japan. It is, rather, one that seizes our attention, often filling us with a sense of righteous indignation. The Japanese today are not even remotely like the nationalist fanatics described by Iris Chang. The Chinese, ironically, come closer to that stereotype. Their form of patriotism, their fixation on military culture, and obsession with national prestige whether in science or sport are, at least on the surface, worn with an unflinching pride. And don't forget the quiet contempt held by the Han for certain minority groups in China. In China, not Japan, I saw mentally ill people sleeping naked in the middle of busy streets, their bodies blackened with months of mud and grime. In a post office I saw a retarded boy get kicked in the seat of his pants for laughs. A British friend working at a university campus of all places saw a child with Down Syndrome being beaten by a group of 'on-campus personnel' wielding broomhandles. In China I saw women fistfighting in the markets. You rarely see behavior like that in Japanese society. I have no doubt in my mind that the Japanese soldiers could be brutes. But the way Chinese treat their fellow Chinese - as I have observed from personal experience - reveals the plain fact that a lot of indignation toward Japan about what it did in World War II is political, pure and simple. Japanese are today far more generous and open to the world than they are given credit for. China should be as content, comfortable and forward-thinking as Japan. Finally, it should be said that the Rape of Nanking is not a big secret kept from the Japanese people. While many are ignorant about it, many also know. The suggestion that there is some conspiracy of silence is misleading even if understandable. Iris Chang has what it takes to make a media event out of this book which, as scholarship alone, deserves the criticism it receives. Chang's study of what took place at Nanking is buried under so many layers of rage and bitterness that you can barely discern any shadow of credibility.
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