Outside Reading Book #2

The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang

I chose this book because it represents a time period in history that everyone knows about, but this event, the Nanjing Massacre, is something that eludes a large portion of the world. First of all, Nanjing is the old capitol of China, also my hometown, and I wanted to learn more about what happened to it during World War II and the Sino-Japanese war. This period was basically known as the Chinese Holocaust of WWII, where hundreds of thousands of people were killed within a few weeks. The Japanese government has tried to cover up this event, deny that it ever happened, and have taken it out of Japanese curriculum for schools. But there is no doubt that it occured with all the evidence that has been discovered. I wanted to dig deeper, go past the surface, and read about the event in the eyes of the victims. The Rape of Nanking is a real mystery to the world, and therefore I want to learn about the truth behind this gruesome occurence.