The Rape of Nanking cover art

The Rape of Nanking

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

The Rape of Nanking

By: Iris Chang
Narrated by: Anna Fields
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £10.99

Buy Now for £10.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

In December 1937, in 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 and within weeks not only looted and burned the defenseless city but systematically raped, tortured and murdered more than 300,000 Chinese civilians. Amazingly, the story of this atrocity- one of the worst in world history- continues to be denied by the Japanese government.

The Rape of Nanking tells the story from three perspectives: that of the Japanese soldiers who performed it; of the Chinese civilians who endured it; and finally of a group of Europeans and Americans who refused to abandon the city and were able to create a safety zone that saved almost 300,000 Chinese. It was Iris Chang who discovered the diaries of the German leader of this rescue effort, John Rabe, whom she calls the "Oskar Schindler of China." A loyal supporter of Adolf Hitler, but far from the terror planned in his Nazi-controlled homeland, he worked tirelessly to save the innocent from slaughter.

©1997 Iris Chang (P)1997 Blackstone Audiobooks 20th Century Asia China Japan Military Modern Politics & Government War & Crisis War Thought-Provoking Imperial Japan Scary Inspiring Japanese War Crimes

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Ordinary Men cover art
My Brother's Keeper cover art
Japan's Infamous Unit 731 cover art
Letters from a Stoic cover art
Operation Snow cover art
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich cover art
Slavery by Another Name cover art
A Thousand Lives cover art
Prevail cover art
Night cover art
Operation Nemesis cover art
Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century cover art
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee cover art
Auschwitz cover art
The Story of World War II cover art
Brave New World cover art

Editor reviews

Iris Chang's work is incredibly important, revealing in the most disturbing detail how Japanese troops ravaged China before war came to the rest of the world. The racial hatred, rationalized murder and large scale butchery is horrific. If you want to know what war is truly all about, this is it. But Chang also gives the perspectives of the Chinese victims of the Nanking massacre and the unsung German diplomat who did what he could to save trapped civilians. (John B.)
All stars
Most relevant
Well written, compelling and terrifying. this book should be essentail reading for everyone. It shows both the best and worst of human nature and gives a valuable insight into hate, propoganda and government misuse of power.

the best and the worst of human beings

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
We’ve all heard about how gruesome war can be but this has to be the most macabre book I’ve read about history. What the Nazi did to the Jews would be considered mercy companed to the grotesque atrocities the Japnese inflicted on the chinese in World War II on innocent civilians.

I still see the same thing nowadays where people are scared to speak their mind or the truth because they are scared of the consequence. This is how evil grows little by little till it becomes monstrous.

History is written by winners

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is very far from the easiest of listens but if you persevere you will be rewarded with an apparently credible and knowledgeable account of a 20th Century episode as yet woefully disregarded, at least in English language history books.

Harrowing but ultimately worthwhile

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Good to read in the context of 20 years of economic and geopolitical change in the region.

heartbreaking and compelling

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The Rape of Nanking is quite frankly the most appalling collections of barbaric acts in recorded history. The tales related within this outstanding book range from truly disturbing to outright disgusting. It describes the act of an unrestrained army, conditioned to believe that they were superior in every way to those beneath them.

As an intellectual exercise this book is something that everyone should read at some point in their lives. Such a poorly known area of WW2 deserves its place in history.

The narration is excellent, the delivery is perfect for a tome of this nature.

Beyond shocking

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews