christine_beatrice's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective

4.0


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bleedingphoenix's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Incredibly important book that everyone should read (if you can stomch the topic). It was hard to read and I had to take several week long breaks because the book was so shocking and depressing. But that is exactly the reason why everyone should read this book. The author, Iris Chang, did an incredibly job researching for this book. She collected many eyewitness reports, things no one had even heard of before. For example, she was the reason, why the world learnt about wwhat happened to John Rabe, the so-called Buddha of Nanjing, a person who saved thousands of people and ended up living in poverty. 
The world was about to forget what had actually taken place in Nanjing in 1938/9, how horrific those the actions of the Japanese soldiers actually had been and how mich the Chinese population had suffered. The goal of the Japanese Government is to forget the atrocities they did in China (and Korea, etc.) and is doing a really good job of it with the help of the US, as economic interests weigh more than justice apparently. You cannot overstate how important Chang's work has been and I'm thankful and inspired by her work. Her book has been one of the very few way the victims of the rape of Nanjing have been given some justice. 
Please, if you have the time, read this book and then tell everyone you know about what you've learnt. 
RIP Iris Chang

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errie's review against another edition

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informative

4.5


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knlipke's review against another edition

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It has nothing to do with how the book was written!!!! I found myself disgusted with the very true, real life events that happened to these poor people of Nanking that I couldn’t read on for the sake of my mental health. I will pick it up again one day

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ashlightgrayson's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This was such an informative piece of journalism that encompassed all necessary background information required to thoroughly understand the topic even if you have no previous knowledge. Iris Chang walks you through the long history between China and Japan prior to the Nanking massacre. This helps give context to the events that occurred during the massacre. This book also makes it easy to connect the events occurring in other regions of the world at that time to the massacre. It allows for the narrative history feel cohesive and relative to other events happening simultaneously. Nothing in history exists in a vacuum and I was happy to see that Chang was able to elaborate on this point in her writing. There is a plethora of useful sources provided in the book as well for further research. Chang proposes her own opinions within the narrative history, but always with support from sources that she cites thoroughly. She also clarifies which parts of the history she had limited sources for. Additionally, she reveals some of her own bias as she explains her own family's history pertaining to the massacre. The way Chang weaves the narrative helps to create both sympathy for the victims of the massacre, and allow for nuance for the perpetrators without absolving them of their culpability.

As I was reading through this piece it felt like I was mourning the loss of Iris Chang simultaneously. She died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2004 and reading this just made me think about what a great loss that was to the journalism community (in addition to her family and loved ones). I would have loved to see her continued contributions to the acknowledgement of Chinese and Asian history. To this day I think there is still a gap in understanding Asian history in the West. I will definitely be reading her other works. This book is one of the best nonfiction books I've read this year and it still holds up today. This has definitely reignited my interest in Asian history. Can't wait to read more!

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skusaroo's review against another edition

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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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yerulp's review against another edition

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dark informative fast-paced

4.5


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szlyen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

4.5


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tinybluepixel's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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jiao_li's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

5.0

I started reading this book because of TPW, I was curious about the real history that inspired Golyn Niis scene.

This book was really heartwrenching. I need to put down this book several times because I can't endure the pain that being told in the book. Not too much descriptive text, so I think you'll like it even if you're not into history books.

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