The Rape of Nanking

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but excessive exaggeration
Review: The intent of this book is clear and compelling. The bottom line is, the Empire of Japan SHOULD HAVE ADMITTED what her did during WWII in China. However, this book critically lacks credibility of the facts. I have to regret many of the facts stated in the book are untrue or incorrect from the perspective of the fact-oriented international populace (e.g., the pictures of Chinese-self-acted Japanese solders, beheaded Chinese criminals executed by their own government, and the number of victims of 300,000 despite 10,000-30,000 revealed by the international investigation body right after the war). It was certainly a tragedy, but we need the FACTS to consider, not her emotional urban folklore. Iris Chang makes it a point to manipulate some facts to make effectively and systematically the entire plot plausible. Japanese government must apologize and Iris Chang must have written the book, both based exclusively on the HARD FACTS. Both are impostors!

Rating:
Summary: Rekishi o obenasai
Review: (We must remember history) I found I was able to connect with the passion that Chang infused the book with. Kudos to her for brining us up to speed because as present day peoples we have a terrible case of amnesia. We would be very lucky if someone did a similar expose on the egregious and obscene human rights violations by our foundling (Sic.) fathers

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Summary: Shocking revelation of Sino-Japanese relations prior to WW2.
Review: The treatment of Japanese-Americans, on the west coast after Pearl Harbor, prompted me to look further to try to understand why our great country had to deal with them in such a heartless manner. I bought three books. Two, written by family members who were subjected to internment, and Iris Chang's, "The Rape of Nanking". In "Rape", Miss Chang captures the outrage of the atrocities committed by the Japanese Army on the Chinese solders and civilians of Nanking in all of their gory details. Even if some of the details may be unverifiable, there is enough substance to the book to make it a "must read" for anyone interested in the history of World War II and the events that preceded it. For myself, it may have provided some answers to my own interest in American actions concerning internment camps. Miss Chang's book makes it clear that the American government was fully aware of the rape of Nanking. Could it be then, that this knowledge of the brutality of which the Japanese army was capable, could have had a bearing on our government's dispassionate treatment of both the American born Japanese-Americans, and those that were born in Japan and chose America for their new home? The only conclusion that I was able to reach, was, that while the internment was extremely unfair and costly to the Japanese-Americans involved, it was a colossal inconvience by comparison to the rape of Nanking, and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The Nanking affair, which happened during the Roosevelt administration, as did the attack on Pearl Harbor, must have influenced the government's decision to act as they did.

Rating:
Summary: Style over Substance
Review: Iris Chang seems to have set out to capture the Rape of Nanking in an objective fashion in her "Rape of Nanking." Instead we get an unbelievably flawed book. From facts and sources that are made up to doctored photographs, Chang plays with the reader's emotions. Don't be fooled, the Rape of Nanking was a terrible event, but to hear Chang tell it is to have it lose its importance amongst unrepresentative anecdotes and uncited details.

Rating:
Summary: This book is fascinating, shocking, and informative.
Review: Iris Chang spares no small detail in her account of the Japanese invasion of Nanking. The atrocities committed by the Japanese soldiers in 1937 are disgusting and truly evil. That Japan still denies the truth about their barbaric behavior says something about their morals and code of ethics. This book is even more deserving of being made a film than Schindler's List. The brave Americans and Europeans who created the Nanking Safety Zone saved way more lives than Schindler ever dreamed of. Chang is 100% correct in her assessment that the Japanese were the perpetrators of World War II, not the victims, as they claim to be. If you are interested in history, pick up this book today!

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Summary: MORE TOUCHING THAN THE JEWISH HOLOCAUST!!!
Review: I have a multi-cultural professor in my family and she was so moved by this documentary! Everyone hears about the European Holocaust, but when you ask someone off the streets about the Rape of Nanjing--90% of the people would have absolutely no idea what it was, except maybe guess that it has to do with the abuse of some foreign girl--how wrong they are!!! I believe the world should be more enlightened of this atrocity so that nothing like this would happen again. With more education about such matters like the Jewish Holocaust and the Rape of Nanjing/Nanking, things in the Serbian province of Kosovo could've been avoided. A MUST READ NOVEL!!!

Rating:
Summary: A truly soul searching piece of work.
Review: Dag Hammerskvjd once said, "They longest journey of any person is the journey inward." And that is what the surviving soldiers and officers of the Japanese army need to do. Though foreign born but raised in the States, my parents never allowed me to forget my own culture. Like Chang, I learned of the Nanking incidents from my parents who had survived that war. The brutality inflicted on innocent citizens by the Jap soldiers was not isolated to Nanking although it was the most severe in degree. Since I hadn't read details about the Sino-Jap wars in history text, I took my father's stories as folklore sort until I saw some photographs and articles published in newspaper last year. And I must say, I definitely appreciate the efforts put forth by Chiang as this event deserves to be heard worldwide, not for revenge but for justice, for all mankind. The victims need a voice.

Rating:
Summary: Historically accurate, but needs to go further.
Review: While the atrocity of the Japanese in Nanking is comprehensively reported, it is disappointing that Iris Chang does so little to connect this with China's current rape of Tibet. How can the readers of this book NOT be infuriated with China for its treatment of the Tibetan people? How can people ignore CURRENT atrocities, in favor of rehashing the past? While Chang does a good job of illuminating the events in Nanking, it is disappointing that she does so little to illuminate the present. The Chinese are, if anything, worse than the Japanese--they are committing systematic genocide on a scale comparable to Hitler. The Chang disappoints because she, along with the US, Europe, and the rest of the world, coveniently looks the other way.

Rating:
Summary: Readable and fascinating tale of a neglected episode in WWII
Review: Chang's book is a very interesting blend of history told in both the first and third person. The accounts of the victims and the perpetrators of this tragedy were most moving. She also does a wonderful job of presenting the facts as facts and the conjectures as what they are. This is not a book for the weak of stomach or for youngsters due to its graphic descriptions of the brutality of the Japanese Army following its "conquest" of Nanking.

Rating:
Summary: profound book
Review: i first became aware of the horrific atrocities committed against the chinese in 1974.i was friendly with several chinese students at colby college and they told me stories of atrocities aimed at the chinese ie the rape of nanking.i congragulate the author for writing this profound,disturbing book.i have one question however, are we to assume that similar atrocities were committed thruout china by the invading japanese or was nanking the site of the worst brutality?was nanking a microcosm of the invaders brutality or was it the area of the worst atrocities.if anyone can clarify i would appreciate this.