The Rape of Nanking (book) - The Book

The Book

The Rape of Nanking is structured into three main parts. The first uses a technique that Chang called "the Rashomon perspective" to narrate the events of the Nanking Massacre, from three different perspectives: that of the Japanese military, the Chinese victims, and the Westerners who tried to help Chinese civilians. The second part concerns the postwar reaction to the massacre, especially that of the American and European governments. The third part of the book examines the circumstances that, Chang believed, have kept knowledge of the massacre out of public consciousness decades after the war.