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

InDecember1937,theJapanesearmysweptintotheancientcityofNanking.Withinweeks,morethan300,000Chineseciviliansweresystematicallyraped,tortured,andmurdered--adeathtollexceedingthatoftheatomicblastsofHiroshimaandNagasakicombined.Usingextensiveinterviewswithsurvivorsandnewlydiscovereddocuments,IrisChanghaswrittenwhatwillsurelybethedefinitivehistoryofthishorrifyingepisode.TheRapeofNankingtellsthestoryfromthreeperspectives:oftheJapanesesoldierswhoperformedit,oftheChinesecivilianswhoenduredit,andofagroupofEuropeansandAmericanswhorefusedtoabandonthecityandwereabletocreateasafetyzonethatsavedalmost300,000Chinese.AmongthesewastheNaziJohnRabe,anunlikelyherowhomChangcallsthe"OskarSchindlerofChina"andwhoworkedtirelesslytoprotecttheinnocentandpublicizethehorror.Morethanjustnarratingthedetailsofanorgyofviolence,TheRapeofNankinganalyzesthemilitaristicculturethatfosteredintheJapanesesoldiersatotaldisregardforhumanlife.Finally,ittellstheappallingstory:abouthowtheadventoftheColdWarledtoaconcertedeffortonthepartoftheWestandeventheChinesetostifleopendiscussionofthisatrocity.Indeed,Changcharacterizesthisconspiracyofsilence,thatpersiststothisday,as"asecondrape."作者简介"Meticulouslyresearched...Agrippingaccountthatholdsthereader'sattentionfrombdginningtoend."-Niencheng,authorofLifeandDeatheinShanghai;"Anyoneinterestedintherelationbetweenwar,self-righteousness,andthehumanspiritwillfindTheRapeofNankingoffumdamentalimportance.Itisscholarly,anexcitioninvestigation,andaworkofpassion.Inplacesitisalmostunbearabletoread,butitshouldberead-onlyifthepastisunderstoodcanthefuturebenavigated."