The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust Of World War II

by Iris Chang

estimated fifty-seven thousand civilians and former soldiers were executed.

“When the Purple Mountain burns . . . then Nanking is lost.”

The Rape of Nanking should be perceived as a cautionary tale—an illustration of how easily human beings can be encouraged to allow their teenagers to be molded into efficient killing machines able to suppress their better natures.

the sheer concentration of power in government is lethal—that only a sense of absolute unchecked power can make atrocities like the Rape of Nanking possible.

Apparently some quirk in human nature allows even the most unspeakable acts of evil to become banal within minutes, provided only that they occur far enough away to pose no personal threat.

leading the United States towards becoming a society capable of atrocities similar to those she had studied.