Iris Chang

Iris Chang was an American journalist and author whose work brought one of the most devastating and least-known atrocities of the twentieth century to widespread Western attention. Born in 1968, she is best remembered for The Rape of Nanking, her groundbreaking account of the massacre committed by Japanese troops following the capture of the Chinese city of Nanjing in December 1937. The book documents the systematic murder, rape and destruction inflicted on the civilian population over a period of weeks, an event that remains one of the most horrific chapters of the Second World War. Chang drew on extensive research including survivor testimonies, military records and the diaries of Western witnesses to create a work that was both a historical account and a passionate argument against forgetting. The Rape of Nanking became a bestseller and sparked international debate about wartime atrocities and historical memory. Her audiobooks and books ensure that this chapter of history is never forgotten. She died in 2004.