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Paul R.
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 Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 5:22 am Post subject: Iris Chang dead - was writing book onWW2 vets? |
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Anybody have any more input on this? Author Iris Chang committed suicide Tuesday. I'd read articles on and brief "pieces" of The Rape of Nanking. Didn't know about the book she was currently working on - may have been of interest to some on this site...
| Quote: | Chang suffered a breakdown and was hospitalized during a recent trip researching her fourth book about U.S. soldiers who fought the Japanese in the Philippines during World War II, according to her former editor and agent Susan Rabiner.
In 1997, Chang published the international bestseller The Rape of Nanking, which described the rape, torture and killing of hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians by Japanese soldiers in the former Chinese capital during the 1930s. The Chinese in America, published last year, is a history of Chinese immigrants and their descendants in the United States.
The late historian Stephen Ambrose described Chang as "maybe the best young historian we've got, because she understands that to communicate history, you've got to tell the story in an interesting way." |
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-11-10-chang-obit_x.htm
I'm not so sure about that last -- I always found the history itself fascinating. But The Rape of Nanking (just "pieces" that I know of) and Chang's effort to get the story out were compelling.
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DLI78
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 5:37 am Post subject: |
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The Rape of Nanjing was a heck of a good book, if you like history books. It was very well written. If you don't know that story, this is the book to read about it.
I'm sorry to find out she's dead.
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LewWaters
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 5:40 am Post subject: |
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I'm shocked to hear she's dead too. I have "the Rape of Nanking," read it all the way through. I heard or read somewhere that she was very deeply affected by researching that book and seeing the horrors heaped upon her ancestors.
Her death is a sad event. She had real promise in revealing the truth about WW2.
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blue9t3
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 5:48 am Post subject: |
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The japanese were nasty, I know alot about war crimes. My wife's uncle didn't make it through the death march, I have his mothers gold star right next to my computer, right here. If you dont know that its what mothers put in thier windows when thier sons didnt come home.
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GenrXr
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:03 am Post subject: |
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| blue9t3 wrote: | | The japanese were nasty, I know alot about war crimes. My wife's uncle didn't make it through the death march, I have his mothers gold star right next to my computer, right here. If you dont know that its what mothers put in thier windows when thier sons didnt come home. |
My grandfather on my mothers side was unfortunately part of the Bataan Death March. Till the day he died he was not much fatter then when he left the Islands. The guy never ate much at any sitting. I suppose it was either his discipline or the guilt of being able to eat. To say the least MacArthur is not a favorite in our family and the media made him a darling when many in our family believe he was too timid at the outset of the war and only grew into his more forceful nature. It is our families opinion the islands should have been defended. Btw, my grandfather was on Luzon island when he was captured.
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Lily
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:03 am Post subject: |
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| I read The Rape of Nanking which is an incredible book. The things the Japanese did during WW2 in Nanking and other places will curl your hair.The Japanese still will not admit to the terrible atrocities they committed during WW2. Iris Chang's book was very well written and engaging especially for a history book,I'm very sorry to hear of her death. |
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GenrXr
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:16 am Post subject: |
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Couple of things.
Weren't the people that recieved the most atrocities by the Japanese not even considered Chinese by the Chinese during world war II?
And although I have not read her book and do know the Japanese were ruthless in the second war, my radar always goes up when I hear sympathy and Chinese people. The Chinese government has committed far more crimes against their own people then the history of all other nations in the world combined in respect to China and this is in the last 60 years.
Never forget the Chinese and Japanese hate each other to this day and if I recall right the same people that the Japanese pillaged were also pillaged by the same Chinese we are now viewing as victims.
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Kimmymac
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:29 am Post subject: |
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At least no one has blamed Bush's re-election for her suicide.
Not yet, anyway. Give them a minute, they will. Give them two minutes, and they will have Bush the rapist of Nanking.
You know the best writers are usually nuts. 
ahem
I am sorry to hear of her suicide, she was a very good writer.
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Lily
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 7:12 am Post subject: |
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| GenrXr wrote: | Couple of things.
Weren't the people that recieved the most atrocities by the Japanese not even considered Chinese by the Chinese during world war II?
And although I have not read her book and do know the Japanese were ruthless in the second war, my radar always goes up when I hear sympathy and Chinese people. The Chinese government has committed far more crimes against their own people then the history of all other nations in the world combined in respect to China and this is in the last 60 years.
Never forget the Chinese and Japanese hate each other to this day and if I recall right the same people that the Japanese pillaged were also pillaged by the same Chinese we are now viewing as victims. |
I believe Chang's grandparents were victims of the Japanese. One of the points that Chang was making with her book is that the Japanese are portrayed as "victims" in WW2 because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Chang makes the point that the Japanese killed more Chinese during the Rape of Nanking then died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She also notes the racist attitudes of the Japanese and how they viewed the Chinese as less then human. |
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Hammer2
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 7:44 am Post subject: |
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As I understand them, a great many Japanese consider all people not racially Japanese as Gaijin (foreigners). This is true of all non-Japanese who live in Japan and are fluent in Japanese. Even native Japanese who have lived overseas are suspect as having been contaminated.
Nationalism and xenophobia run deep in Japanese culture.
I have read that they are best understood as a village culture, one which sees the group (village) as the basis of society. The nation/race is an extention of the village. The outsider (non-Japanese) is therefore not part of the group and is not to be trusted. Individuals are seen as subservient to the group, each must serve the whole. The individualist is a maverick and threatens the stability of the group.
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Paul R.
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| Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 6:46 pm Post subject: |
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| GenrXr wrote: | | blue9t3 wrote: | | The japanese were nasty, I know alot about war crimes. My wife's uncle didn't make it through the death march, I have his mothers gold star right next to my computer, right here. If you dont know that its what mothers put in thier windows when thier sons didnt come home. |
My grandfather on my mothers side was unfortunately part of the Bataan Death March. Till the day he died he was not much fatter then when he left the Islands. The guy never ate much at any sitting. I suppose it was either his discipline or the guilt of being able to eat. To say the least MacArthur is not a favorite in our family and the media made him a darling when many in our family believe he was too timid at the outset of the war and only grew into his more forceful nature. It is our families opinion the islands should have been defended. Btw, my grandfather was on Luzon island when he was captured. |
My wife is a Filipina, and I have heard / been part of many a discussion on that point. The problem was that even though we saw it coming, this country was simply not ready for war. How could we have held the Philippines when we couldn't even keep German U-boats from prowling along our Gulf Coast and sinking a LOT of our shipping? (I just watched a documentary about this on The History Channel and was incredulous: A) Not that it happened, but to the degree it happened, and; B) That our gov't was able to cover it up so well!)
We were stretched thin, and, much as with Iraq, the belief was that the Germans were close to nukes, so most of our efforts HAD to go there, first. And, even if that was not a factor, in the final analysis, which do you sacrifice, Great Britain, or The Philippines? Given what we had to work with after Pearl Harbor, if we had made an all out effort with what was left of our Pacific Fleet to defend The Philippines, and lost it anyway, then what?
Don't get me wrong, I have mixed feelings about MacArthur. He did "grow". Several years of war might do that... But, if you really want someone to blame, go after the anti-war movement prior to WW2. Or, ask why we did not have the Filipinos well-armed & ready to fight the Japanese.
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Paul R. |
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Paul R.
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| Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 7:03 pm Post subject: |
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| Lily wrote: | | GenrXr wrote: | Couple of things.
Weren't the people that recieved the most atrocities by the Japanese not even considered Chinese by the Chinese during world war II?
And although I have not read her book and do know the Japanese were ruthless in the second war, my radar always goes up when I hear sympathy and Chinese people. The Chinese government has committed far more crimes against their own people then the history of all other nations in the world combined in respect to China and this is in the last 60 years.
Never forget the Chinese and Japanese hate each other to this day and if I recall right the same people that the Japanese pillaged were also pillaged by the same Chinese we are now viewing as victims. |
I believe Chang's grandparents were victims of the Japanese. One of the points that Chang was making with her book is that the Japanese are portrayed as "victims" in WW2 because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Chang makes the point that the Japanese killed more Chinese during the Rape of Nanking then died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She also notes the racist attitudes of the Japanese and how they viewed the Chinese as less then human. |
I think Chang's intent is to reveal pieces of history not well known. What the Chinese gov't has done to their own people is pretty well documented.
I'd have been really interested to have read that 4th book she was working on, about the U.S. soldiers in the Philippines in WW2.
BTW, I noticed after going over 250 posts that I am an "expert"? I don't feel like an expert!!!  
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