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What are readers saying about The Rape of Nanking The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II?
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-02-20 08:06:15.
(Language: English)
  
Excellent and harrowing account of the Japanese occupation of Nanking during World War 2. Iris Chang obviously writes from a point of view that is slightly biased and neglects to mention the atrocities that the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans have been perpetrating against each other and among themselves for hundreds of years. Narrow focus context aside, the book clearly outlines the despicable, appalling behaviour of the Japanese is Nanking during this time. This book will upset you and will make you angry. It will hopefully also encourage you to further study. I particularly recommend the Diaries of Jonathan Raby which I would never have read had it not been for this book. Finally, although I admire the book, the title leaves a little to be desired. This was not a forgotten holocaust. It was not a holocaust and it has not been forgotten. The Armenian story is far more deserving of the title "forgotten holocaust". Don't know anything about it? Exactly. Go and read something about it. Now! 
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-08-09 10:05:42.
(Language: English)
This is probably one of the most unforgettable books you will ever read. Not only is it quite graphic about the atrocities that were committed, but also accounts an accurate portrayal of what happened. Chang explores both sides; with what was happening on the Japanese side of the war and then also the Chinese side as well.What is depressing though, is to find out after reading this masterpiece that Iris Chang took her own life. Friends said she was haunted by what she heard from survivors and saw in pictures. I for one, will miss her deeply.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-09-15 09:10:20.
(Language: English)
Worth reading, but you probably ought to balance it with another account of the Nanjing Massacre, unless you're just looking to get riled up. (Maybe Joshua Fogel's "The Nanjing Massacre in History and Historiography".) Chang sheds some light on the systematic use of rape to terrorize civilians; but her focus on Japanese culture and her failure to discuss the way the Chinese government has politicized the massacre create a sense of Japanese exceptionalism, and may leave you with the impression that this is somehow a Japanese problem, as opposed to a universal problem. Ultimately, her questionable discussion of pre- and post-war Japanese politics undermines her brilliant work bringing to light one of humanity's darker chapters.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-06-01 01:17:16.
(Language: English)
the writer is biased. I'm not buying it.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-05 05:08:27.
(Language: English)
This book is not perfect, but it is a remarkable achievement by a remarkable historian. Chang puts her pen at the service of knowledge and science, but she also thinks with her heart, and with a worried mind. The story of these crimes, and how these crimes are told, concerns all of us today, wherever we live, and whichever atrocity is freshest in our memory. This book will not leave you unscathed --but if you want to know a little more about humanity, this is compulsory reading. If you care about humanity, it is compelling reading. And if you are one of those who remember that not less than 45 million people died between 1939 and 1946, it is a relief that the memory of the war --its causes, its atrocities, its victims-- continues to be a duty we all share --not one to be appropriated by just a few. Read this, and suddenly perspectives alter, and orders of magnitude, in terms of human suffering, human cruelty, human stupidity, and human ability to use "perspective" to obliterate the past. Challengingly, Chang also records instances of human courage, but there is much less of it about, and even there, to record it is not without its risks to the notions of "good" and "evil". Suddenly, cowardice and cynicism take an altogether different meaning. So does Yakusuni.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-08-17 06:01:28.
(Language: English)
Chang's book is a thoroughly researched document about the crimes perpetrated on Nanking from the Imperial Japanese Army 70 years ago and perhaps more importantly a wake-up call to Japan's current indifference and arrogance by refusing to admit or even acknowledge their past crimes. While the book is far from objective and a bit too shrill at times, the overall effect is devastating. If there is any justice in the world, one day Japan will make amends for their crimes, and this book will be recognized for having been one small step to that happening. Recommended for anyone with even a passing interest in Japan.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-05-03 10:01:04.
(Language: English)
Holy crap - I would have never known about what the Japanese had done in China during WWII if it weren't for this book. NOT for the weak stomach - the atrocities recorded here in this book make any horror movie look more like a romantic comedy. It's just very hard to believe that human beings could commit these acts to innocent people in any day and age, let alone this one. I read the entire book in one sitting. I'm not a typical reader of war books, but this one kept me turning page after page.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-05-15 08:33:38.
(Language: English)
Definitely not for the faint of heart. THE RAPE OF NANKING is the true story of the genocidal occupation of China by Japan in the years immediately preceding their attack of Pearl Harbor. Chang documents what happened in the city of Nanking and examines underlying causes and why the rest of the world remained ignorant of these atrocities for so long. Students of history will find they cannot put down this astounding book. Older Americans might wish they had.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-07-23 11:29:38.
(Language: English)
Brutal...horrifying.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-07-15 08:38:01.
(Language: English)
A very in depth look into a not too well known part of world war two history. Wanted to read it because a friend of mine from Japan thought the Japanese were as bad as the Germans during the war, but this book provides insight into a reason for that mindset. Before reading this book, the reader should be warned that Chang doesn't hold back in her descriptions. She just says what happens in a rather frank way. Some parts of the book were hard to read simply because of the brutality described. It's a very eye opening book though and well researched.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-03-18 07:22:39.
(Language: English)
The futility of war - yet the total predicability of human nature.Just as Vonnegut before her (with Slaughterhouse Five) and Ben Elton after her (with The First Casualty), Chang distills it all to paper.Do not read this book if you can't handle the fact that humans are animals, and the most violent of the lot. War provides the clearest evidence that modern human society is at best a thin veneer of 'civilization'; a mask of sanity.Chang endured tremendously scathing criticism from many Japanese for writing this book. Yet a lot of the evidence and eye-witness testimony actually comes from former Japanese soldiers themselves. What some of the critics may be missing, and I was surprised myself at this, is that Chang does not aim to lay 'blame' on the Japanese people. The blame lies with the Japanese war-time government and former emporer. This is an important distinction to make.There are also a couple of large indisputable facts that Chang points out here. Firstly there is the well hidden fact that the West promised Japan many things after WW1 for Japan's enormous assistance to the British and Americans (e.g. armament manufacture and navy support). Not little things either - Japan was promised the control of all former German pacific colonies north of the equator. After the war ended the West renegged on most of these promises. To then claim that Japan was unprovoked for its expansionist policies, and its anger towards the West, is one of the biggest lies of WW2. In war the winners write the history books, and a lot of facts are conveniently lost.Chang points out another startling piece of history. In 1853, Matthew Perry was sent on a mission by US President Millard Fillmore to 'establish' trade with Japan (Japan had been isolated from the outside world since the 17th century). So in July, Perry lead a squadron of four ships into Tokyo Bay and presented representatives of the Japanese emperor with the text of a proposed commercial and 'friendship treaty'. The Japanese rejected Perry’s demands and Perry withdrew. Perry returned to Japan in February, 1854. This time he brought seven ships with one thousand, six hundred mercenaries purely as act of intimidation and forced the Japanese to 'negotiate'!The Japanese had been isolated for hundreds of years - we can only imagine how much of insult it must have been to have American thugs turn up out of the blue and issue demands. Indeed from this very first encounter onwards - immediately in the 1850s even - the Japanese began to prepare for retaliation againt America and the West.Unfortunately for the Chinese, the event of Nanking that began in December 1937 were just one part of the Japanese retaliation in direct response to colonial imperialism by the west. If people want to point fingers, then it isobviously not merely the Japanese that the blames lies for this, China's Holocaust.
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Charles posted a review at 2010-10-22 10:13:13.
(Language: English)
One of the worst and most infamous atrocities is known as the Rape of Nanking, the full horror of which came to the attention of the United States and the English speaking world in one of the most shocking and disturbing books I have personally ever read: The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang, published in 1997. Ms. Chang was a first generation Chinese-American from a highly cultivated and educated background. Her parents, who had escaped the Rape of Nanking and emigrated through Taiwan to the United States, were both university professors. If you have a chance to read it then I urge you to do so. Obviously I give it five stars for it shines a light on the far lesser known genocide in the Far East committed by the Japanese against the Chinese beginning with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and the subsequent breakout of total war between the two countries in 1937.
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Cheng posted a review at 2009-03-17 03:16:32.
(Language: English)
I strongly recommend you to read this book. it is a book written by an american born chinese who learned about the rape of nanking first from her parents who experienced the horror in china.It tells with detail how japanese troops marched from shanghai to nanking and the whole process of the rape of nanking.It uses a lot of astonishing statistics and pictures to show the undenied fact,the bestial behaviours the japanese did in nanking.It emphasized on several points: first ,the great damage brought by the japanese,all those horrible things like raping, burning people alive, burying peple alive,massacreing civilians and surrendered chinese troops.second, the twenty some westerners in nanking who formed the international safty zone and helped hundreds of thousand of chinese people to stay alive.The author praised them as the angels from the heaven and telled a lot of moving things they did to help the poor chinese.Third, the verdict of the far east militant tribunal and the deny from japanese government nowadays.After reading this book, I know much better about the rape of nanking and regret for the things the japanese government did after the war.I hope one day the japanese can sincerely acknowledge their crime during the ww2.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-10-25 09:24:31.
(Language: English)
this book was obviously disturbing. there's one chapter in there that will literally make u weep at the depravity of man. some people read this book and get angry at the japanese and hate them forever because they did this. or maybe because they hide the truth. um, yeah not really. people are people man, and people will pretty much do and say what they want. the people who are the angriest at the japanese (koreans/chinese) have a lot of skeletons in their closets that they aren't dealing with so um, he who has not sinned cast the first stone. anyways, a fairly well researched book although the most disturbing section doesn't have a lot of notes since nothing was really written about it. that doens't mean it didn't happen but really, who is going to write at the time that the japanese brutally raped and slaughtered hundreds if not thousands of women. she's obviously not a historian but it's a fast read and one of those must reads for those who want to know a little bit about the hatred and distrust that exists today between china and japan.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-03-01 10:40:00.
(Language: English)
When I read this book I had no idea that this horrendous attack had even occurred. I feel indebted to Iris Chang for making me aware of the human suffering that needs to be acknowledged. I wish she were still alive. I often wonder why she killed herself.
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Bob posted a review at 2009-10-29 09:51:51.
(Language: English)
Although my interests in the war lie predominantly in the European theater, this book is one I place high on the list of must reads. It details the much overlooked Japanese atrocities in China; as with the Soviet atrocities, they have become easy to ignore in light of the Nazi acts, as well as our own use of WMDs in Japan. But nonetheless, it is a compelling look at the brutality that existed in many parts of the work during the most bizarre period of human history.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-07-08 04:44:14.
(Language: English)
Sort of a disappointment. Though the book began well, looking at the backgrounds of the two major players, China and Japan and their respective national mentalities, the majority read like a list of atrocities sprinkled generously with biased personal opinions and, for the most part, anger and bitterness (understandable; yes, she relates to the sufferings of her country folk) which progressively increased in frequency. My main quam with it is: the perogative of an author of non-fiction, which this book is classified as being by many people, is to be as impartial as possible and by so doing offer an accurate analysis (viz.looking through the eyes of both Japan and China, not just China), yet this book read more as a series of complaints and familial vendettas which in my opinion, is too personal to be offered up as an academic work. My second dissatisfaction, apart from the unprofessionality stated above, is that because a lot of personal negative and biased opinions were involved and the fact that the book is seen as a serious study by many, it promotes self-justified hatred in the more impressionable readers. Now, I'm not saying that Japan was right or wrong or whether or not China deserved it or not due to its own inadequate administration at the time, but I just feel a subject of this international status shouldn't be written as a biased work then being deemed academic. Therefore, I was rather turned off to it.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-11-30 01:10:38.
(Language: English)
Probably the most controversial, fiercely debated historical piece since the Armenian Genocide, and the more widely known Holocaust, it's probably Irs Chang's most in-your-face account of what goes on in the other side of the world, where even I can imagine Steven Spielberg will require a vomit bag and what not, to hold back the raw emotions, yet to be resolved in this day and age. History may be painfully ugly, but in the sagely words of Santayana, "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it." Well said--especially coming from a Chinese Christian, who's more than spiritually burdened for the heart and soul of Japan, amidst the 9-11 age of world history!
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-12-27 01:17:33.
(Language: English)
I seriously think every person should read this book, extremely enlightening and a true reveal of a horrific situation brought about by hate, dehumanization, and apathy. To honor the deaths of thousands if not millions of Chinese victims, everyone should read this book. One star off because of some factual errors [none that would discredit the accuracy of the overall message] and towards the end, the information becomes a little bit repetitive. PLEASE READ.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-09-02 09:55:54.
(Language: English)
Anyone interested in Chinese history should read this book. Most of today's world population had never heard about the Sino-Japanese wars and the invasion of Nanking. However, in late 1930's Japanese were nonpareil in the brutality of their war crimes. They raped and ravaged mainland China leaving millions dead. Surprisingly, this humiliating episode of China's history is remains a taboo at dinner discussions to this day. Like slavery in the early history of the US, suppressors and suppressed alike are appalled when this topic is brought up. Iris Chang, who got her masters in writing seminars from Johns Hopkins University did an excellent job describing what has transpired in Nanking during its occupation by Japanese forces. Iris Chang took her own life in 2004.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-07-14 07:15:47.
(Language: English)
Great book, it shocked me when people would ask me what I am reading and not even realize that this atrocity happened in China.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-25 11:57:48.
(Language: English)
Poor Iris Chang. Great book. I loved the fact that she always researched about things that other people took for granted. I mean, there was no book on the Nanjing Massacre till she wrote this one. Although I have to commend Chang for her efforts, I must say that some portions of the book seem exaggerated. However, I don't actually know since the Japanese were pretty brutal in WWII. If you have no other reason to read this book, Read it because Japanese PM Shinzo Abe(Yes, the racist guy) doesn't want you to read it.
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Debbie posted a review at 2009-08-26 01:02:44.
(Language: English)
A fascinating read about a major event that most people know nothing about--the slaughter of more than 300,000 Chinese at the hands of the Japanese in 1937. Oddly, a Nazi stationed in Nanking is a hero for saving thousands of Chinese lives. Unlike many Nazis who were executed and continually hunted down for murdering Jews, many of the main characters in this drama went unpunished and lived long lives as high-ranking Japanese government officials.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-06-30 09:05:23.
(Language: English)
Appreciated the complexity of research for this book. Ms. Chang delved deep into journals and it is very great that there is a writing on this horrific event that very much needs more historic attention paid to it. I might say that the book wasn't very neutral and didn't come off as an academic work but moreover a general history for everyone. Evidence is piled on against the Japanese and response is belittled instead of academically considered in a neutral fashion (In honesty the response is often wrong and in truth correctly ridiculed). Still, perhaps the most interesting reading of the book was about what happened from the end of the massacre to today. It was a great book to read, horrific but informative, hoping that this sparks further interests in the Japanese occupation of China including Unit 731, Comfort Women and the other war crimes in that theater of World War II
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-16 09:48:26.
(Language: English)
In my quest to get through all of these unread books, I picked up "The Rape of Nanking," an unread war book that has been on my shelf for years. I read a lot of distressing books (see the recent entries on the books about US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan), but this is the first book I can remember that gave me nightmares. I did not have distinct nightmares about the atrocities mentioned in the book, but about war in general. If you have a few days, and the stomach to do it, read this book. Leading up to and during World War II, Japan waged war on China. The war lasted from the early '30s to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Japan's eventual surrender. We don't hear much about this in the US, and Chang writes that honestly, even if we lived in Japan, we wouldn't hear much about it either. Holocaust denial is considered beyond the pale here, but in Japan, who was responsible for over 19 million Chinese deaths during the war years, denial of the events is commonplace, and even expected. The events described in the book- the takeover of the Chinese city of Nanking by Japanese forces and the subsequent atrocities- are still considered by the Japanese to not have happened at all, or at best, to be the result of a few misguided individuals. (Is this ringing any too-close-to-home bells, yet?) Chang's extensive research shows that the 300,000 Chinese who died (estimates vary on the exact number, but this is the figure that Chang uses most often) did not die do to the mistakes of any individual. She describes a culture of emperor-worship and of the need to aggress into China. She tallies individual atrocities and group ones: rapes of old women and severed heads, and "killing contests" proudly published in Japanese newspapers. A few brave foreign residents set up a "safe zone" in the heart of the city for Chinese residents and refugees that the Japanese refused to honor, and Chang calculates that without this zone, no resident of Nanking would have survived the brutality of the conquering Japanese. And then, most poignantly for me, Chang talks about why the massacre happened and why it has been largely forgotten. "The Rape of Nanking" was written 10 years ago, before the series of abysmal wars that Bush Jr. is fighting, but many of Chang's points could be in Coll or Hersh's epilogues: "A third factor was religion. Imbuing violence with holy meaning, the Japanese imperial army made violence a cultural imperative every bit as powerful as that which propelled Europeans during the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition." (218) Chang writes that "civilization itself is tissue-thin... the sheer concentration of power in government is lethal- that only a sense of absolute unchecked power can make atrocities like the Rape of Nanking possible." (220) And finally, Chang calls us to task on becoming numb to the horrors that we see daily on the news, the Internet, etc: And there is yet a third lesson to be learned, one that is perhaps the most distressing of all. It lies in the frightening ease with which the mind can accept genocide, turning us all into passive spectators to the unthinkable. The Rape of Nanking was front-page news across the world, and yet most of the world stood by and did nothing while an entire city was butchered... Apparently some quirk in human nature allows even the most unspeakable acts of evil to become banal within minutes, provided only that they occur far enough away to pose no personal threat. (221) After hearing how individuals risked their lives to tear rapists off of women's backs and kick looters out of the safe zone; how they guarded the last hospital in Nanking from the Japanese and fought back from 37 bayonet wounds, this is a particular challenge. What choices will we make when faced with far away evils? What will we stand for, and what will we fight? How close to home do atrocities have to be for us to say something? Who has to commit them? Where do we draw the line?
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