![The Rape of Nanking image](https://likewise.com/_next/image?url=%2Fimages%2Fplaceholder.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
![The Rape of Nanking image](/images/placeholder.jpg)
The Rape of Nanking
Books | History / Asia / Japan
4.3
(226)
Iris Chang
The New York Times bestselling account of one of history's most brutal—and forgotten—massacres, when the Japanese army destroyed China's capital city on the eve of World War II, "piecing together the abundant eyewitness reports into an undeniable tapestry of horror". (Adam Hochschild, Salon) In December 1937, one of the most horrific atrocities in the long annals of wartime barbarity occurred. The Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking (what was then the capital of China), and within weeks, more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and soldiers were systematically raped, tortured, and murdered. In this seminal work, Iris Chang, whose own grandparents barely escaped the massacre, tells this history from three perspectives: that of the Japanese soldiers, that of the Chinese, and that of a group of Westerners who refused to abandon the city and created a safety zone, which saved almost 300,000 Chinese. Drawing on extensive interviews with survivors and documents brought to light for the first time, Iris Chang's classic book is the definitive history of this horrifying episode.
AD
Buy now:
More Details:
Author
Iris Chang
Pages
360
Publisher
Basic Books
Published Date
2014-03-11
ISBN
046502825X 9780465028252
Ratings
Google: 5
Community ReviewsSee all
"5/5: A genuinely heartbreaking historical nonfictional book highlighting many of the atrocious acts the Japanese soldiers and their government had committed during WWll. A well-articulated and detailed book, my heart goes out to the Chinese victims and the many families terrorized and lost during the war. The Rape Of Nanking should be read and properly taught to the next generations to come so they too can learn from their leader's mistakes and not let history repeat itself. I'd like to thank Iris Chang and her commitment to researching the topic despite knowing the dangers and shunning it came with it, may she rest in peace.
Here are some quotes from the book that struck me: “I was suddenly in a panic that this terrifying disrespect for death and dying, this reversion in human social evolution, would be reduced to a footnote of history, treated like a harmless glitch in a computer program that might or might not again cause a problem, unless someone forced the world to remember it.”
“The Rape of Nanking did not penetrate the world consciousness in the same manner as the Holocaust or Hiroshima because the victims themselves had remained silent.”
“Germany is today a better place because Jews have not allowed that country to forget what it did nearly sixty years ago. The American South is a better place for its acknowledgment of the evil of slavery and the one hundred years of Jim Crowism that followed emancipation. Japanese culture will not move forward until it too admits not only to the world but to itself how improper were its actions of just half a century ago.”
“We made them like this. Good sons, good daddies, good elder brothers at home were brought to the front to kill each other. Human beings turned into murdering demons. Everyone became a demon within three months.”"
"Very depressing, but good"
J
Janan
"Probably one of the more gruesome books I’ve read, but a necessary evil. The author also has a truly sad story about herself as well. This book is packed with lies and deceit at the highest government levels displaying atrocities that need to be remembered, not buried and forgotten. There are stories about the most deplorable acts of torture and also some heart pounding acts of human kindness. "
Similar Books
4.3
4
4.3
4.5
4.1
4.1
4.4
3.8
4.4
4.3
4.4
4.3
4.1
4.4
4