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The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II
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The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II Paperback - 2012

by Iris Chang

This "New York Times" national bestseller recounts the forgotten story of the brutal massacre of 300,000 Chinese civilians by the Japanese army. "Anyone interested in the relation between war, self-righteousness, and the human spirit will find "The Rape of Nanking" of fundamental importance".--Ross Terrill, author of "China in Our Time". of photos.


Summary

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.

From the publisher

In December 1937, flush with confidence from their victories over the Nationalists in Beijing and Shanghai, the Japanese Army swept into Nanking and, over the next seven weeks, looted and burned the city and systematically raped, brutalized and murdered more than 250,000 defenseless civilians. Officially denied by the Japanese government, the story of this atrocity has been suppressed for more than half a century. Now Iris Chang, a Chinese-American writer whose own grandparents survived the massacre, reveals the full horror of their experience and puts a human face on one of the century's worst horrors.

Chang tells the story from three very different perspectives: that of the Chinese who endured it; the Japanese soldiers who performed it; and that of a heroic group of European and American businessmen and clergy living in Nanking. Led by John Rabe, a German and a member of the Nazi party, these foreigners risked their own lives by defying the Japanese authorities and creating a safety zone in the middle of the city that harbored perhaps 100,000 Chinese.

First line

THE CHRONICLE of humankind's cruelty to fellow humans is a long and sorry tale.

Details

  • Title The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II
  • Author Iris Chang
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition First Trade Pape
  • Pages 360
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Basic Books, U.S.A.
  • Date 2012-01-10
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Illustrated, Index, Maps
  • ISBN 9780465068364 / 0465068367
  • Weight 0.75 lbs (0.34 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.1 x 5.4 x 1 in (20.57 x 13.72 x 2.54 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Reading level 1280
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 1930's
    • Chronological Period: 1940's
    • Cultural Region: Asian - Chinese
    • Cultural Region: East Asian
    • Cultural Region: Asian - Japanese
  • Library of Congress subjects Nanking Massacre, Nanjing, Jiangsu Sheng,, Nanjing (Jiangsu Sheng, China) - History -
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2012372267
  • Dewey Decimal Code 951.042

Media reviews

Citations

  • New Yorker (The), 11/25/2013, Page 121
  • Reference and Research Bk News, 04/01/2012, Page 30

About the author

Iris Chang (1968-2004) lived and worked in California. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana, she was the recipient of the John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation's Program on Peace and International Cooperation award, as well as major grants from the National Science Foundation, the Pacific Cultural Foundation, and the Harry Truman Library.
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