Iris Chang's book is insightful for individuals who want to have a graphic idea of the torture instituted on the Chinese during the sack of Nanking. I don't feel this book could be used in a high school class setting due to the nature of brutality and graphic pictures shown in the book. Although, I do find a positive factor from this book. One can make a comparison on genocide between the Chinese and the Jews of WWII, or compare the brutality toward the African people of Rwanda. There was a facination while reading this book in terms of learning more about how Japanese soldiers, who promote honor among their men, cross a line into having a total loss of worth for another human being. The Japanese acts against the Chinese were so bad that the Germans stepped in, and look what the Germans were doing to the Jewish people during WWII. This book does have a historical value when studying war crimes and the brutality of war among civilians.
Clark W. Zimmerman, Jr.
29 March 2010
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