Nanjing Massacre Research Guide: Books and eBooks about the Nanjing Massacre

This book explores the massacre that occurred after the Japanese captured the Chinese capital of Nanjing in December 1937. In January 1938, three American diplomats arrived in Nanjing and sent numerous atrocity reports to the U.S. and U.S. diplomatic posts, extensively documenting the situation and the American diplomatic role.

This book begins by exploring the impact of imperialism in East Asia during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the rise of nationalism and militarism, and how these developments affected the complexity of nation building efforts in China and Japan. It addresses the brutality of war and the crimes committed in Nanjing through an examination of the choices made by leaders, soldiers, and witnesses.

Drawing on cultural trauma theory, this book investigates how collective memory of the Nanjing Massacre is fashioned in China and how the mass media, political power and public praxis jointly shape the politics and culture of memory in contemporary China.

Drawing on Chinese, Japanese, and English sources, Yamamoto determines that what happened at Nanking were unfortunate atrocities of conventional war with precedents in both Eastern and Western military history.

In recent years the international community has begun to scrutinize and, in many cases, condemn the atrocities that took place at Nanking in late 1937.

In December 1937, in what was then the capital of China, one of the most brutal massacres in the long annals of wartime barbarity occurred. The Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking (Nanjing) and within weeks not only looted and burned the defenseless city but systematically raped, tortured, and murdered more than 300,000 Chinese civilians.

With newly uncovered eye-witness material left behind by American and British journalists, missionaries, and diplomats, They Were in Nanjing takes the readers back in time to revisit the event and live through those horror-filled days.

Editors Hua-ling Hu and Zhang Lian-hong have added many informative annotations to the diary entries from sources including the proceedings of the Tokyo War Crimes Trial of 1946, Vautrin's correspondence, John Rabe's diary, and other historical documents. Also included are biographical sketches of the two women, a note on the diaries, and information about the aftermath of the tragedy, as well as maps and photos.