Will Byrnes's Reviews > The Rape of Nanking  The Rape of Nanking
by Iris Chang  's review Jan 03, 11  bookshelves: non-fiction,
military-and-intelligence-non-fic Read in May, 1999  I read this
book in 1999 and was surprised to find that it was not on my GR
list. I was not writing detailed reviews at the time so my
single paragraph will have to suffice, but I did take down a few
significant passages from the book, and pasted those at the
bottom.  This book tells of the Japanese destruction, truly a
"rape" of Nanking in December 1937. It is estimated that up to
350,000 people were murdered within a few weeks, many horribly.
The Japanese have never acknowledged this atrocity, and in fact
many of those involved remained in influential government
positions. Because of cold war politics, most of the
perpetrators of this were spared punishment.  The book was
detailed and chilling. I have not yet seen the documentary,
which is supposed to be excellent. It is on my Netflix queue.
While Japan is capable of greatness,