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The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II
The Rape of Nanking The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II
Author: Iris Chang
In December 1937, the Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking. Within weeks, more than 300,000 Chinese civilians were systematically raped, tortured, and murdered--a death toll exceeding that of the atomic blasts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. — Using extensive interviews with survivors and newly discovered documents, Iris Chang...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780140277449
ISBN-10: 0140277447
Publication Date: 11/1/1998
Pages: 336
Rating:
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 67

4.2 stars, based on 67 ratings
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 1
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 18 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
A tragedy that had it occurred any other country, the world outcry would have been loud and long, but because it is China the silence is deafening. Why were no war crimes trials held for those responsible as held at Nuremberg? Why so little written and so much ignored? Iris Chang was concerned about the lack of written material about the atrocities that occurred to the Nanking residents during WWII by the Japanese and this book is the result of those concerns. The reader should be forewarned that Chang has been very graphic in describing the actions and the inhuman treatment of the Japanese soldiers. While not the magnitude of the German holocaust in total numbers, it is easy to understand why the Chinese view Nanking as their holocaust. I believe it is worth reading just to understand the issues that confront the Chinese & Japanese even today.
reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 533 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
China has endured much hardship in its history, as Iris Chang shows in her ably researched The Rape of Nanking, a book that recounts the horrible events in that eastern Chinese city under Japanese occupation in the late 1930s. Nanking, she writes, served as a kind of laboratory in which Japanese soldiers were taught to slaughter unarmed, unresisting civilians, as they would later do throughout Asia. Likening their victims to insects and animals, the Japanese commanders orchestrated a campaign in which several hundred thousand--no one is sure just how many--Chinese soldiers and noncombatants alike were killed. Chang turns up an unlikely hero in German businessman John Rabe, a devoted member of the Nazi party who importuned Adolf Hitler to intervene and stop the slaughter, and who personally saved the lives of countless residents of Nanking. She also suggests that the Japanese government pay reparations and apologize for its army's horrific acts of 60 years ago.
AMAZON.COM REVIEW
reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 9 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A very riveting and engaging read.
reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 42 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A compelling and interesting book, but extremely difficult to read due to descriptions of explicit violence toward women and children.
reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on
Helpful Score: 1
An amazing book. So little is known about this period. What happened to the Chinese during World War II got lost in the revolution and the Cold War. The Japanese have tried to ignore what happened. Iris Chang researched the stories of the Chinese, Japanese and Westerners who lived during this nightmare. It is a must read for it helps understand current attitudes in Asia.
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reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 5 more book reviews
Not an easy read for the simple reason that descriptions of the crimes that were committed against the Chineese people of the city are documented factually and without glossing over the intense suffering present. It is also uncomfortable to probe the author's assertion that the veneer of civilzation is so paper thin that any human being, under the right (or rather, wrong) set of circumstances could perpetrate similar crimes. It was the systematic abuse of young students in Japan's militaristic educational system of the time that indoctronated and desensetized them into a code of thinking and behaving that was feral. The Japaneese or German militarists were no different in their human nature than any other person born to this planet.
reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 136 more book reviews
Amazing this actually happened. Yet another event left out of the history books.
reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on
The pictures in the center of this book depict the realities of war in a graphic manner.


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