As a learned person, I am ashamed to admit that I was ignorant to the existence of this horrific global atrocity. The invasion of Nanking, China by Japanese soldiers must be called and seen for what it is - a sickening attempt at genocide. Disturbing, graphic images like those of the severed heads of Chinese villagers skewered on Japanese invaders' rifles along with first person diary accounts of nausea-inducing gang rapes and torture, though difficult to stomach, only scratch the surface of what must've been the longest, darkest, most hopeless six weeks suffered in the lives of these oppressed people. Divided into chronological "chapters" detailing the path to and fall of Nanking, a non "Judgement Day" for the offenders, and how quickly the Nanking Holocaust was covered up and forgotten in a chapter dubbed "A Second Rape", among many others, the compelling truth is told in blaring clarity.
Classroom/campus libraries will be strengthened through the addition of this compelling text to be featured alongside important titles like Night and others focusing on the Jewish Holocaust as well as texts exposing the nightmarish period of African enslavement in America. This text could also serve to support important units on global citizenship detailing who the actions of a few can change the course of history for the masses through examining the efforts of the brave foreigners who put their lives on the line to create the Nanking Safe Zone and broadcast to the world the unspeakable violence being committed in Nanking, China.
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