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Summary: A horrifying account of a forgotten episode
Review: Long before I read Iris Chang's book, I have heard of the Nanking Masaccare. I was told and had read of the terrible things that were done by the Japanese troops. But until I read this book, I had no idea of the magnitude of the atrocities commited there. And I also had not heard of the effort of the small group of foreigners like John Rabe who tried to help the helpless people. Ms Chang has to be congratulated for bringing to light this horrible episode which the world and even China seems to have forgotten and to higlight the heroic efforts of people like John Rabe. There is a Malay saying which says that a person's good deeds lives on long after the person is gone and in Rabe's case, it is high time that the world realises his heroism. And for those people who still insist that the whole thing didn't happen and that there isn't enough evidence to support Ms Chang's story; what more proof do you what? Those pictures in the book tell a thousand stories. Those kind of atrocities commited by the Japanese troops whether on a few thousand or hundreds of thousands cannot be excused. Or forgotten.
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Summary: The book was extremely interesting and I would recommend it.
Review: It's kind of pathetic how a nation could deny such horrible acts of inhumanity. I say that it's time that Japan admits its wrong doing and we'll take it from there. What's so wrong with admitting one's wrong doing. Denying it only makes them look worse. For them to deny any wrongdoing is a show of being pathetic and low. I think that it's downright shameful. Good for Iris because she showed the world what really went on.
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Summary: A terrible vicious tragedy, brilliantly revealed.
Review: I had heard of the Rape of Nanking in passing, just another slaughter in a War full of horror. But Iris Chang does what a lot of historical writers fail to do: she reveals enough background to illuminate the principal characters without drowning us in a sea of facts and trivia, and she unfolds the story carefully with attention to detail. So much of history is recounted as just sweeping generalities, as if the teller is familiar with the details, and imagines all others are too. Whenever I read a broad sentence like "The Japanese invaded China", I have a fleeting image of millions of people sitting around a tavern, bored, and someone yells out "Hey, let's invade China!", and everyone rushes out and jumps aboard a waiting ship. Students everywhere are used to having years and decades of history reduced to a single sentence or image. Iris Chang gives us a sense of having witnessed something firsthand. Describing panicked civilians, demoralized troops, bottle-necked excape routes, corrupt and cowardly officials and an advancing enemy with such vividness and insight in the beginning of the book, one is nevertheless shocked at the slaughters' same unblinking treatment. What really chills is the length of time that the killing went on for. This was not a sudden orgy of bloodlust but a systematic, organized, drawn out killing and rape spree that went on for weeks. It was also very well documented by American and German eye witnesses, and I wonder if the rape of Nanking would ever have been believed if only Chinese eyes bore witness. Some may argue over the estimates of people killed or the more elusive details, but there's little doubt that it mostly happened the way it is told here, and the truth is revealed along with the facts.Triumph enough for any history.
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Summary: "Reader From Massachusetts (above)posts propaganda...
Review: to all Anti-Japanese books at Amazon. Check the identical posting at "Hidden Horrors : Japanese War Crimes in World War II". Don't be deceived by Japanese Nationalist lies.
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Summary: Well Documented - Why do Japanese continue to deny?
Review: Human beings are capable of such evil. It really is quite sad. I thought Ms. Chang's account was well documented and written. Unfortunately, the Japanese still live in a world of denial. I just read the following in the South China Morning Post (one of Hong Kong's English-language newspapers): <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<NEWS BRIEF>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Book's aborted launch hailed A Tokyo-based newspaper yesterday welcomed the aborted launch of a Japanese translation of Chinese-American Iris Chang's bestseller The Rape of Nanking. The Sankei Shimbun said: "With the stoppage of the publication, we can avoid a situation in which Japanese are left puzzled by wrong historical remarks." The book is an account of Japan's wartime atrocities in Nanjing. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<end NEWS BRIEF>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hopefully, more books like The Rape of Nanking will enlighten the world community and slowly filter into the Japanese conscience.
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Summary: Beatuifuly written, and gripping till the end!!
Review: Great book for someone who knows little about The Rape of Nanking. I loved the structure of the book providing a view from the; soldiers commiting the crimes, westerners in nanking at that time, victims, and the author. It raises many questions with me about human ignorance and how mass stupidity sometimes equals intelligence.
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Summary: Unbelievable! A "Can't Put it Down" Real-Life Horror
Review: The author coud not have chosen a more appropriate subtitle. Indeed, as a former student of history, I had never heard of the rape of Nanking in any history course. Fortunately, it won't take long before Chang's powerful work heightens public awareness about this tragic event. Chang takes the reader on a journey whose horrific chronicle of human barbarianism is simultaneously coupled with inspirational hope in humanity. Begining with the history of the Sino-Japanese conflicts of the early 20th century, Chang explains how the Japanese Samurai heritage, coupled with modern imperialistic ideology, culminated in 1937 with the massacre of around 300,000 Chinese citizens in Nanking. Chang also highlights how the unwaivering labor and endless sacrifice of less than 30 Europeans/Americans in Nanking saved literally hundreds of thousands of Chinese from certain death and/or torture. She closes the book by summarizing how and why the Japanese government, on the whole, has failed to hold themselves accountable for these crimes and indeed continues to subvert propugation of the truth. This is an absolute must read for history students or those studying the human psyche.
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Summary: Moral outrage cannot be expressed in historical footnote.
Review: I saw the purpose of this book as an attempt to draw attention to a horrific event that the world has overlooked. A more dispassionate, scholarly account of this tragedy would not have gotten anyone's attention. I find it interesting that people still want the author to "dress up" the events that happened to make them more palatable. Had she done so, this book would have landed on the back shelves of a few Universities.
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Summary: A Vital Study, Albeit Flawed
Review: To admit the negative, The Rape of Nanking is many things: emotional, flawed, sensational, and biased. Chang should have been more objective, than subjective. However, I honor what Chang accomplished because this book does cast light on two undisputable facts: 1) Japan continues to downplay or outright deny the extent and abusiveness of its actions in WWII, and should begin to consider admitting the truth; 2) American and world scholars have long neglected this topic. It has been there, but only in name alone ("the rape") without expansion, or relegated to obscure journals and books. It is very strange that this tragedy has gone largely unexplored, whereas we have almost daily articles, essays, studies, textbooks, novels, poems, etc. concerning the Jewish Holocaust in Europe. A personal note of my own: a decade ago when I was still in college studying for my history degree, I had the wonderful opportunity to study Asian history under an Asian professor from Beijing. One of my papers on WWII was in fact on the Rape of Nanking, though I naturally had very limited primary resources (which Chang has now greatly expanded). But I ran into the same bizarre attitude of repression or neglect on this topic with my history professors. I was outright told that I had chosen a very bad subject and strongly urged to drop it, not to write the paper, and when I did I was urged to pursue it no further. I was told that it was rather taboo and not something I should consider if I was serious about my career as an historian. I was pressured enough to eventually drop future work on it, though I was very fascinated by the topic. This is fact. That it occurred and so much negativity was expressed solely about that topic (but not others over the years) has always mystified me and made me ask why? Why with this topic? Therefore, I was naturally very pleased when I saw this book published. Chang sheds some light on this question, obviously the Japanese are reluctant to admit the truth of their actions, but the fundamental question remains for me: why is this particular atrocity of WWII so shunned by historians? I think her book is a success in that it has reopened the case and refocused attention on it. Now, perhaps, we can finally have some truely expansive, in-depth historical investigations of this war crime.
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Summary: History is not polemics--Geraldo does Nanking
Review: As a professional historian of East Asia, I appreciate Chang bringing the events of Japan's invasion of Nanking to a broader audience, but Chang let her personal bias and her youth/inexperience adversely affect the telling of her tale. The events are horrific enough that the reader does not need to be hit over the head with Chang's inflammatory rhetoric. Moreover, this is not a forgotten event--I learned about it in 10th grade world history in 1967. Chang's best contribution is bringing to light the diaries of John Rabe, which with other eye-witness accounts are perfectly valid historical sources. However, Chang's insertion of herself into the narrative and her inflammatory rhetoric seriously undermine her book on an important and neglected -- but not unknown -- event. I am at a loss to understand why this book has been lauded by a number of prominent historians. Had she been my student (or I her editor), I would have required her to write with objectivity so the credibility of her account would not be subjected to the kind of criticism I see in many of these reviews.
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