The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II

In December 1937, the Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking. Within weeks, more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and soldiers 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 has written the definitive history of this horrifying episode.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by William C. Kirby Introduction Part I 1. The Path to Nanking 2. Six Weeks of Terror 3. The Fall of Nanking 4. Six Weeks of Horror 5. The Nanking Safety Zone Part II 6. What the World Knew 7. The Occupation of Nanking 8. Judgment Day 9. The Fate of the Survivors Part III 10. The Forgotten Holocaust: A Second Rape Epilogue Epilogue for the 2011 Edition Acknowledgments Notes Index

About the Author :
Iris Chang graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and worked briefly as a reporter before winning a graduate fellowship to the writing seminars program at the Johns Hopkins University. She received numerous honours including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Program on Peace and International Cooperation Award, the Woman of the Year Award from the Organization of Chinese Americans, and honourary doctorates from the College of Wooster and California State University at Hayward. Her work appeared in many publications, including Newsweek, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. She died in 2004.

Review :
A powerful, landmark book, riveting in its horror. The first comprehensive examination of the destruction of this Chinese imperial city... Ms. Chang, whose grandparents narrowly escaped the carnage, has skillfully excavated from oblivion the terrible events that took place. In her important new book... Iris Chang, whose own grandparents were survivors, recounts the grisly massacre with understandable outrage. A powerful new work of history and moral inquiry. Chang takes great care to establish an accurate accounting of the dimensions of the violence. Chang vividly, methodically, records what happened, piecing together the abundant eyewitness reports into an undeniable tapestry of horror. The story that Chang tells is almost too appalling for words... a carefully documented cry of moral outrage. Chang reminds us that however blinding the atrocities in Nanking may be, they are not forgettable-at least without peril to civilization itself. A compelling piece of history that speaks volumes about humankind's inhumanity in the atrocities that have been documented and offers some vestiges of hope in the individual acts of heroism that also have been uncovered. A very readable, well‑organized account... Chang has rescued this episode from its undeserved obscurity. Meticulously researched... A gripping account that holds the reader's attention from beginning to end. Iris Chang's research on the Nanking holocaust yields a new and expanded telling of this World War II atrocity and reflects thorough research. The book is excellent; its story deserves to be heard. Heartbreaking... An utterly compelling book. The descriptions of the atrocities raise fundamental questions not only about imperial Japanese militarism but the psychology of the torturers, rapists, and murderers. Something beautiful, an act of justice, is occurring in America today concerning something ugly that happened long ago... Because of Chang's book, the second rape of Nanking is ending. Anyone interested in the relation between war, self‑righteousness, and the human spirit will find The Rape of Nanking of fundamental importance. It is scholarly, an exciting investigation, and a work of passion. In places it is almost unbearable to read, but it should be read only if the past is understood can the future be navigated. One of the most important books of the twentieth century, Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking will endure as a classic among the world's histories of war.