Reviews tagging 'Mass/school shootings'

The Rape Of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust Of World War II by Iris Chang, William C. Kirby

12 reviews

dmathuna's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

I don’t even know what to say about a book that covers such topics. I’ll start by saying that it’s short enough at around 230 pages and aims to give an overview of such a wide ranging event that it can’t seriously detail much but what is told in here is extremely harrowing to read and then to comprehend that these acts were all done by humans to other humans. 

The sheer barbarity and brutality shown to the Chinese inhabitants of Nanjing  is staggering and each page you uncover a new horror you previously thought incomprehensible. The detailing of how widespread the systematic rape of all women regardless of age, pregnancy, occupation churned my stomach in a way I don’t think has ever happened to me. I am absolutely forever changed by the contents of this book and it will never leave me for the rest of my life..

The fact that elements of Japanese society still can’t accept that this event occurred much less that their soldiers carried it out with explicit knowledge by their government leaders is tragic and should be a crime akin to denial of the holocaust. I can only hope that since the time the book was published that attitudes there have started to change. More than 300,000 people were murdered by the occupation and we did them a disservice by not remembering this event more. 

At the time of me writing this review Iris Chang would have been 56.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Death, Colonisation, War, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Mass/school shootings, Rape, Murder, Genocide, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Miscarriage

birddie's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This is the hardest book l've ever read. It's sad I'm 24 years old and this is the first and only time l've heard of this. It's even more sad that the stories and crimes in this book aren't even unique. This is something that's happening in our world right now. We don't learn about our history any more and that's why it repeats itself...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Drug use, Incest, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Gore, Rape, Bullying, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Medical content, Physical abuse, Violence, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Genocide, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Child death, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Addiction, Antisemitism, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Trafficking, and War

felicityjoy's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Genocide, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Racism, Suicide, War, Blood, Violence, Trafficking, Child abuse, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, and Torture

kalona's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

5.0

A very difficult read, but necessary to learn about this dark piece of history

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Vomit, Death, Rape, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Suicide

If you need trigger warnings this book is not for you.

ehmannky's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.75

Like a lot of people, my knowledge of World War II in the Pacific is not particularly comprehensive and my awareness of what Japanese imperialism and war crimes was limited to a hazy understanding of "they were bad." But I don't think I could have fathomed the depths of suffering that occurred during the Rape of Nanking. Cheng does a really good job summarizing the forces behind the massacre, going into details about the brutal acts (which even when reported on using what I felt was pretty neutral language is just wildly horrific to read), and the global collusion between world governments (including China's!) about why this is so understudied and unknown. 

I didn't love the audiobook narrator for this, but listening to her read at, like, 1.25x speed was just fine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Rape, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Colonisation, Genocide, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Sexual violence, Torture, and War

errie's review against another edition

informative

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, War, Xenophobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Medical content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Slavery, Suicide, Pedophilia, Torture, Violence, and Physical abuse

skusaroo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

The true story of the worst thing to ever happen... until the following decade.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, Colonisation, Pedophilia, Violence, Child death, Torture, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Murder, Police brutality, War, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, Rape, Suicide, Slavery, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Incest, Genocide, Death of parent, Gun violence, Gore, Blood, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Child abuse, and Cannibalism

Don't read this if you're easily upset by the worst things humans can do to other humans. 40,000 to 300,000 civilians murdered in SIX WEEKS and in a manner that would make the directors of gore films blush.

anhedonia_n_anomie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Violence, Body horror, Hate crime, Child abuse, Colonisation, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, War, and Murder

Moderate: Incest

yerulp's review against another edition

dark informative fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Misogyny, Mental illness, Slavery, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Hate crime, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Sexual assault, War, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Xenophobia, Gore, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexism, Blood, Classism, Deportation, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Trafficking

Every content warning under the sun

samarakroeger's review

challenging dark informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, and War