Synopsis
The first English-language history ever written about the Japanese army's 1937 conquest of China's capital and the massacre of its inhabitants. Chang, a freelance journalist, describes the circumstances under which the Japanese killed a quarter of a million Chinese (nearly all of them civilian noncombatants) during the first few months of their occupation of the city. A "New York Times" Notable Book for 1998.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1998-11-01 | | Edition Description: | Reprint |
| Size | | Length: | 290 pages | | Height: | 8.3 in | | Width: | 5.3 in | | Thickness: | 0.8 in | | Weight: | 10.4 oz |
Publisher's Note
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 has written what will surely be the definitive history of this horrifying episode. The Rape of Nanking tells the story from three perspectives: of the Japanese soldiers who performed it, of the Chinese civilians who endured it, and of a group of Europeans and Americans who refused to abandon the city and were able to create a safety zone that saved almost 300,000 Chinese. Among these was the Nazi John Rabe, an unlikely hero whom Chang calls the "Oskar Schindler of China" and who worked tirelessly to protect the innocent and publicize the horror. More than just narrating the details of an orgy of violence, The Rape of Nanking analyzes the militaristic culture that fostered in the Japanese soldiers a total disregard for human life. Finally, it tells the appalling story: about how the advent of the Cold War led to a concerted effort on the part of the West and even the Chinese to stifle open discussion of this atrocity. Indeed, Chang characterizes this conspiracy of silence, that persists to this day, as "a second rape."
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.
Industry Reviews
"In her important new book, Iris Chang, whose own grandparents were survivors, recounts the grisly massacre with understandable outrage."
New York Times Book Review - Orville Schell (12/14/1997)
"Chang fails [in her account] because she rushes to simplify complex events and to universalize what happened at the expense of a careful, comprehensive appreciation of a world violently destroyed."
Nicholson
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