The Rape of Nanking

November 3, 1997
The Japanese sack of the Chinese capital Nanking is surely among the world's worst atrocities. In 1937, Japanese forces captured the city and embarked on an orgy of rape, murder and destruction of property unparalleled in scope anywhere to that date. Estimates of those killed within a few days range upward of 350,000. Chang, a freelance writer, first heard about what came to be known as the Rape of Nanking from her parents, who fled China after WWII and settled in the U.S. The author's extensive research lays bare the depravity of Japanese conduct during the war and the heroic resistance of members of the international community in Nanking, who established a safety zone, at great personal risk, to shelter countless thousands of Chinese refugees. One of the unsung heroes of the tragedy is John Rabe, an influential Nazi German in the city who tried without avail to use his influence with Hitler to stop the massacre. Chang's account also takes Japan to task for failing to acknowledge its role in the bloodbath, noting that many high-level Japanese officials still refuse to admit their country's complicity. Likening the siege of Nanking to the recent genocide in Bosnia and Rwanda, the author reminds us that "civilization itself is tissue-thin." A compelling, agonizing chronicle.

Few know the details of the Japanese invasion of Nanking during WWII. Once a capital city of China, it became a scene of holocaust, rivaling any of Europe's in brutality and numbers. This is not history for the squeamish. Chang unfolds episodes with painstaking detail. She documents facts, reactions and rebuttals and includes a psycho-sociological analysis of the Japanese character to explain (if not excuse) their excesses. With a dry voice, Fields keeps her narrative from overreaction, using a finely tuned ear for inflection to emphasize the worst horrors. This is a real accomplishment as it would be hard NOT to express indignation. Her intelligent performance makes this a remarkable and compelling experience. S.B.S. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine