Comments on: Iris Chang, ‘The Rape of Nanking’ Author, Found Dead

By: DC Loser

DC Loser — Fri, 12 Nov 2004 22:43:40 +0000

The only one of Iris Chang's work I read is "Thread of the Silkworm" due to my interest in Qian Xuesen, the father of China's missile program. Fascinating story and still the best work on this subject in the wwest. I can't bring myself to read "Rape" because of the subject (just as I couldn't force myself to get throught the holocaust chapter of the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich).

By: Attila Girl

Attila Girl — Fri, 12 Nov 2004 20:04:37 +0000

This is terrible. That book is sitting in my house (on my husband's bookcase, of course). I haven't been able to bring myself to read it, much less research/write that and three other books that were surely just as tough.

If nothing else, she performed a vital service to history. As with the Holocaust, this is something the world needs to know about.

She was a brave woman: I assume she was eventually overwhelmed by the tragic quality of her subject matter.

By: Tig

Tig — Fri, 12 Nov 2004 18:29:14 +0000

What? You use the word "rape" in the title and then don't place within your post the obligatory message: "Authorities say there was no evidence of sexual assualt." OK, now the above comment was "inane" and "snarky." I don't necessarily guarantee "good" or even "worthwhile."

By: Johnny Walker Red

Johnny Walker Red — Fri, 12 Nov 2004 15:27:01 +0000

Wow. Very troubling. I remember seeing her on Hardball once, when the Nanking book came out. Sad.

By: Jade

Jade — Fri, 12 Nov 2004 14:57:00 +0000

Sad... I've read 'The Rape of Nanking' -- I wonder if all the research she's done is what made her ill.