Jim N. (jazzbo) 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.
Ross M. (Parrothead) 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
AMAZON.COM REVIEW
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.
Susan R. (SuRay) - , reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 20 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I found this book most interesting when read alongside Paula Kamen's Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition and the loss of an Extraordinary Mind.
The author of The Rape of Nanking did an amazing job of researching and writing about events that politics have largely erased from historical awareness, and she paid dearly for her efforts.
Both these books are "Must reads" for anyone interested in history as it happens, rather than as it is publicized. I got both books very quickly from PBS, my source for history!
The author of The Rape of Nanking did an amazing job of researching and writing about events that politics have largely erased from historical awareness, and she paid dearly for her efforts.
Both these books are "Must reads" for anyone interested in history as it happens, rather than as it is publicized. I got both books very quickly from PBS, my source for history!
Erik R. reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 13 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A must read. Thouroghly researched. Not overbearing in presentation. Very intelligently written; not condescending in any way.
An important part of history almost unknown too many, especially here in the US.
An important part of history almost unknown too many, especially here in the US.
lupielady reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 232 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I knew something of the crimes against the Chinese at this time but this book is a full, complete and I might add grafic account. The book helped explain how the Japanese culture could allow for such a thing to be permited. Adults only.
Amy O. (nattyj) reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 13 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Iris Chang is a wonderful writer. This book describes the many injustices done to the Chinese. It is written in a way that it honors the dead, those who tried to save lives, and to try rationalize why the Japanese did what they did. I read for a History class and was glad I did. I truly had no idea that another Holocaust happened and gets little to no press about it. If you want to read more about this war time tragedy, pick this book, but be prepared to be haunted by it long after you put it down.
Sophia C. reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 289 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A Japanophile friend once asked me why the Chinese harbor such animosity against the Japanese. When he rejected my suggestion that it might be due to the collective memory of the atrocities committed by the Japanese during World War II—which I have always heard about growing up—in favor of propaganda spewed by the Chinese government, I decided to read The Rape of Nanking, the first full-length non-fiction account of the massacre in English, to learn more about this almost mythical event for myself. Chinese-American Iris Chang has laid out an organized and well-researched account of what happened in Nanking (now known as Nanjing) when the Japanese defeated the city in late 1937. The first half is a 360-degree view of the incident itself, from the perspectives of the Japanese conquerors, the Chinese victims, and the foreigners who tried to establish a 'Safety Zone' within the city. Be warned it starkly relates the story of massive scale rape, gruesome torture, and ruthless killing—with casualties rivaling those of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. The second part is a scathing indictment of how the entire international community has allowed the Rape of Nanking to fade into historical obscurity, with the Japanese escaping without apologies, reparations, or even acknowledging the massacre even occurred in its history textbooks. Although a bit too finger-pointing for my taste, it makes the undeniable case that how Germany and the Holocaust were treated is vastly different from Japan and its aggressions during WWII. It is a shame that we lost the author Iris Chang to mental illness and suicide in 2004.
Vicki C. (vdcster) 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.
Robert G. (burosky) 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.
The pictures in the center of this book depict the realities of war in a graphic manner.
Katie B. (katiem63116) 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.
W. R. (NYbooks) reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 99 more book reviews
* * * * *. History. Harrowing, unbelievable account of the atrocious acts Japanese soldiers committed against the men, women and children of this small town. The book looks at the events that led up to this inhuman massacre, how the Japanese government denied the events, and a few heroes that rose help the people of Nanking. Not recommended for the weak stomachs.
James K. 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.
Paula B. reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 8 more book reviews
Striking account of Chinese militarism and its horrendous impact on Naking.
Gabriele C. (theoldbookshelf) reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 43 more book reviews
i have wanted this book ever since i first heard a report on it , when it first came out . i finally found it .... husband warned me , that it was a brutal book and that i wouldnt like it . growning up in germany shortly after the war , the holocaust wasnt as much discussed as it should have been , but the germans were still somewhat numb and not yet free to look at what happened objectively . only in later years have i come to understand . from that background , looking at this book , is very hard . i can not read but parts of it and know it is too horriffic . " so much death .what can men do against such reckless hate " to quote theoden king from LOTR . it is a very hard book to read --- but a story that has to be told , because of the general denial by the japanese . also the role of the service women , the japanese kept ... another atrocity long been covered and denied --- but thats another story .
Sallianne D. (traveller) reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 80 more book reviews
I found this book to be quite disturbing as it is a true story regarding the events of December 1937 which took place in Nanking, China.
T P. (tnreader) reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 10 more book reviews
Moving, horrific account of one of history's lesser-known incidents.
Andrea H. (Andrea) reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 85 more book reviews
this is a very good one!
Sandra Z. (ztogar) reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 195 more book reviews
excellent and eyeopening
Alexandra reviewed The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II on + 111 more book reviews
I found this book so hard to read and some of the pictures horrific. I skipped much of it and skimmed to the end of it. Some of what I read is burned in my memory. Only if you can divide your sensitivity from this harsh history should you read it. It is an important book though because the Japanese have tried (and have sometimes succeeded) in erasing this unbelievable horror that they did to the Chinese people. This should not be pushed under the carpet. It's so hard to believe that the Japanese who are so culturally artistic and empathetic could inflict this horror on an innocent population. It's beyond comprehension. I don't know how to rate this book. I would prefer putting no rating but it's not allowed so I am giving it 2 stars.
Side note: Sadly Nanking is not alone in the horrors inflicted by the Japanese during WWII
Side note: Sadly Nanking is not alone in the horrors inflicted by the Japanese during WWII
