I’ve been reading Iris Chang’s book The Rape of Nanking — which, for all its flaws, appears to be the best English-language general history available. Â I’m only about halfway through, reading about the International Committee’s Safety Zone and the descriptions of the atrocities; critics usually target the last third of the book, where Chang apparently speculates about the Japanese national character.
As far as I know, though, nobody sensible disputes the basic accuracy of her account of the massacre, killing competitions, rapes, etc. Â I’ve been having to take it in small pieces. Â It was giving me nightmares.
Chang committed suicide in 2004, while working on a book about the Bataan Death March.
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