Rating: 
Summary: Should not be the ONLY book you read on this subject
Review: Japan's government has indeed acted cowardly in refusing to face up to the full dimensions of the horrors committed in the name of the Emperor. And yes, there are revisionists claiming Japanese children will suffer emotionally for having been exposed to "fantasies" about sex slavery and the Rape of Nanking. For revisionists history should be a string of happy moral tales that will help children cultivate pride in themselves and their Japanese heritage. It is important to recognize that such an attitude is not necessarily representative of the whole of Japan. It is, rather, one that seizes our attention, often filling us with a sense of righteous indignation.The Japanese today are not even remotely like the nationalist fanatics described by Iris Chang. The Chinese, ironically, come closer to that stereotype. Their form of patriotism, their fixation on military culture, and obsession with national prestige whether in science or sport are, at least on the surface, worn with an unflinching pride. And don't forget the quiet contempt held by the Han for certain minority groups in China. In China, not Japan, I saw mentally ill people sleeping naked in the middle of busy streets, their bodies blackened with months of mud and grime. In a post office I saw a retarded boy get kicked in the seat of his pants for laughs. A British friend working at a university campus of all places saw a child with Down Syndrome being beaten by a group of 'on-campus personnel' wielding broomhandles. In China I saw women fistfighting in the markets. You rarely see behavior like that in Japanese society. I have no doubt in my mind that the Japanese soldiers could be brutes. But the way Chinese treat their fellow Chinese - as I have observed from personal experience - reveals the plain fact that a lot of indignation toward Japan about what it did in World War II is political, pure and simple. Japanese are today far more generous and open to the world than they are given credit for. China should be as content, comfortable and forward-thinking as Japan. Finally, it should be said that the Rape of Nanking is not a big secret kept from the Japanese people. While many are ignorant about it, many also know. The suggestion that there is some conspiracy of silence is misleading even if understandable. Iris Chang has what it takes to make a media event out of this book which, as scholarship alone, deserves the criticism it receives. Chang's study of what took place at Nanking is buried under so many layers of rage and bitterness that you can barely discern any shadow of credibility.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrifyingly gripping.
Review: I thought I'd never find anything more disgusting and inhumane the Nazis. The world NEEDS to be made more aware of these events, in hopes that it will never happen again.
Rating: 
Summary: A little too demanding.
Review: Well written book with shocking subject matter, that is informative and easy to read. I would give it 4 stars, but Ms. Chang too often brings up the subject of why there was not a big hollywood production, and volumes of books written about the nanking incident. This gets annoying after a while, but besides that, it's a good read.
Rating:
Summary: This book has raised fear in the Japanese society.
Review: It is amazing that one book can arouse the fear in so many Japanese. From top government officials and politicians to common people in Japan are all denouncing this book and its author, Iris Chang. This is the reason I bought this book and after reading it I was sadden by all the atrocity carried out by the Japanese soldier on the Chinese people. Now I understand more about the deep rooted animosity that Chinese feel about the Japanese people and its government. Till today, Japanese government and its people are still resisting the fact that its soldier has done so many horrible things to the Chinese people and many others all over Asia. Imagine if there is more people like Iris Chang...
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book
Review: Iris Chang has done a great work. I have learned about the Nanking Massacre since I was 10. In Taiwan, on the anniversaries of the sino-japan war or Nanking incident we saw pictures and film reels of the incredible atrocities committed by the Imperial army on TV memorial programs. That has always left deep scars in my mind. How could Japanese do this to us? Chang's book is one of the most detailed account on the massacre I have read. Details like the acts of John Rabe and other foreigners have been vividly disclosed not like before. I am going to read John Rabe's diary! Some people appear to have negative feelings about the style she presents in the book, and dispute about the hard fact on such things as exact toll of death. I found these criticism either overly insensitive or 'scholarly'. Some people want the book to relate the Chinese communism's atrocity against Tibet. And this goes on as why we should care about the atrocity in the past but not the atrocity of the current time. Contrarily, it is exactly due to the fact that 'those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it' shall we rediscover this forgotten holocaust of Nanking. The bottom line is that this story needs to be told and the history needs to be remembered. Her book is rightfully done and timely. Let us do not put the heavy load of entangling the whole web of hard/debatable evidence or lack of record on this single book. The author does not mean the book to be an authoritative historical account(but it's meticulously researched). Instead, let us wish that more books can follow to unearth more truth and psychological reasons of this tragedy. It is obvious that China's role in US's WW II history is grossly ignored. Combined with the repeated denials from higher officials from Japanese government, or at best half-hearted apologies, I know exactly why Chinese(along with Korean, Philippines etc) would feel so strongly about Japanese when it comes to this Nanking incident. The difficulty of publishing a translation of this book in Japan reflects the self-censorship there. Should the Japanese government have done the righteousness and were repentant about their unfortunately and ugly war crimes, then both Japanese and Chinese people can surely live better in peace. This book is particularly worthwhile in its uttering of this personal yet pervasive view among people in east Asia.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed, but Overall Important.
Review: My mom used to tell me these stories and I didn't quite believe them because they were so fantastic. Though I did believe the Holocaust, I tought some of her stories were too fantastic. Now with Chang's book, I feel that what my mom has recounted to me as true. I do find the numbers that Chang has spouted to be a bit unbelievable, but what if only 100,000 people were murdered? That is still beyond imagination, beyond normal human behaviour. Look at the ethnic cleansing going on in Kosovo. Look at the Mongol hords, Stalin, Hitler, Killing fields in Cambodia. These all really happened. It is impossible to say that these stories are all made up. Humans are barbaric and even if you just don't believe Chang's numbers, you can believe that some of her stories are true. The tragedy is that some readers disbelieve her. How can you say what she wrote is all lies? If you say she is lying, maybe you just can't face up to the truth yourself? That some countries/people/cultures sometimes get out of hand and do horrible things.
Rating:
Summary: Mis-education of Americans
Review: The problem with this whole era of history is the fact that we (as American's) are to centered on events that transpired in Europe as opposed to in the Asia/Pacific Region. Our only real knowledge of the Pacific War is of Pearl Harbor and the dropping of the A-bomb's on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with some knowing of the events in the Philippines and Iwo Jima. It is really sad that the Pacific War is still taking a backseat to the European War. People need to understand that not only 6 million Jews died during the Holocaust, but tens of millions all over the world, of all different races, colors, nationalities, and religions.
Rating:
Summary: Now I understand....Lived in Korea for 2 years
Review: Having lived in South Korea for 2 years, I wondered why I never saw a Honda, Toyota, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki, etc.... I once wore a jacket which had a Japanese flag (amoung others) on it and kept getting acosted by half-frightened, angry old men. (very frustrating when you don't speak Korean) But as they pointed to the flag in anger, I began to understand. I guess there's still a lot of hate there which it's far to late to quell. I was there when the "comfort women" operation was being revealed. Many elderly women of Korea were coming forth describing 'rape camps'. So it's no big news to me that this happend in China as well. It's also not suprising that it is denied by the Japanese government.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reminder of an almost forgotten atrocity of WW 2!
Review: As a Chinese-American I am embarrassed that I have never heard of the massacre that took place in Nanking... until now. This book provides what my grandmother (although she's not from Nanking) recollects from her days living in China during WW 2. Although some Japanese may think this book is about Japan bashing, it is not. It does not generalize about the Japanese people, but it does give what may be reasons why such atrocities were committed by the Japanese Armies. This book should be required reading in world history classes everywhere!! John Rabe IS the Oskar Schindler of China.
Rating:
Summary: THIS IS ***THE*** BOOK TO READ!!!
Review: I could certainly understand how the victims felt. My father was from Nanjing and he knows all about it. No matter how much the Japanese try to cover it up, the truth shall prevail. And as a well respected Harvard philosopher, George Santayana once put it: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." A must for all who are studying the inhumanities against humanity.
| 
