The Rape of Nanking, Iris Chang
The Rape of Nanking, Iris Chang
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The Rape of Nanking
The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II

Author: Iris Chang

Narrator: Anna Fields

Unabridged: 8 hr 3 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/01/2012

Synopsis

In December 1937, one of the most brutal massacres in the long annals of wartime barbarity occurred in the capital of China. The Japanese army swept into Nanking and not only looted and burned the defenseless city but systematically raped, tortured, and murdered half of the city’s remaining population, some 300,000 Chinese civilians. Amazingly, the account of this atrocity was denied by the Japanese government.The Rape of Nanking tells the story from three perspectives: that of the Japanese soldiers who performed it, that of the Chinese civilians who endured it, and finally, that 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 John Rabe, the tireless German leader of the rescue effort, whom Iris Chang called the “Oskar Schindler of China.”

About Iris Chang

Iris Chang was a journalism graduate of the University of Illinoisat Urbana, and she worked as a reporter for the Associated Press and the Chicago Tribune before winning a graduate fellowship to the writing seminars program at Johns Hopkins University. Her first book, Thread of the Silkworm, the story of Tsien Hsue-shen, father of the People’s Republic of China missile program, received worldwide critical acclaim. She was the recipient of the John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation’s Program on Peace and International Cooperation Award and major grants from the National Science Foundation, the Pacific Cultural Foundation, and the Harry Truman Library.

About Anna Fields

Anna Fields (1965–2006), winner of more than a dozen Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award in 2004, was one of the most respected narrators in the industry. Trained at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, she was also a director, producer, and technician at her own studio, Cedar House Audio.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ed on June 21, 2008

Iris Chang committed suicide. I can't help wondering if doing the research for this book didn't create or deepen her depression. She was an obviously passionate person and turning that passion loose on uncovering what really happened in Nanking in December 1937 must have shook her deeply. Just readin......more

Goodreads review by Taka on April 09, 2008

Gripping-- As a Japanese, it pisses me off how history turned out for the Class A war criminals who never got reprimanded or punished after the war, and it pisses me off all the more for the government's steady and FUCKED-UP denial of its past war crimes. Both the ultranationalists and those conserva......more

Goodreads review by emma on December 01, 2021

i'm not going to review this beyond saying that everyone should read about this time in history. we should all reckon with this.......more

Goodreads review by Will on October 18, 2014

I read this book in 1999 and was surprised to find that it was not on my GR list. I was not writing detailed reviews at the time so my single paragraph will have to suffice, but I did take down a few significant passages from the book, and pasted those at the bottom. This book tells of the Japanese d......more

Quotes

“A powerful new work of history and moral inquiry. Chang takes great care to establish an accurate accounting of the dimensions of the violence.” Chicago Tribune

“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.” Wall Street Journal

“A story that Chang recovers with raw urgency…An important step toward recognition of this tragedy.” San Francisco Bay Guardian

“Stomach-turning, tear-wrenching, thoroughly riveting.” Baltimore Sun

“For giving voice to their terrifying and crippling experience and for writing this timely remembrance of those who did not live to tell about it, Chang has joined the heroes of Nanking in a great service to humanity and history.” Journal Inquirer

“Chang reminds us that however blinding the atrocities in Nanking may be, they are not forgettable—at least without peril to civilization itself.” Detroit News

“Compelling in its emotional breadth, impressive in its intellectual width. From the first page, it seizes hold of your emotional and intellectual centers and will not loosen its grip until the last page, if even then.” Ventura Star

“Fields keeps her narrative from overreaction, using a finely tuned ear for inflection to emphasize the worst horrors. This is a real accomplishment, as it would be hard NOT to express indignation. Her intelligent performance makes this a remarkable and compelling experience.” AudioFile

“Chang has written a forceful narrative that not only reconstructs the grisly events in detail but analyzes Japan’s reluctance to admit its responsibility.” Library Journal

Awards

  • New York Times Notable Book
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