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The Woman Who Could Not Forget

Iris Chang Before and Beyond The Rape of Nanking

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The Woman Who Could Not Forget

By: Ying-Ying Chang
Narrated by: Emily Zeller
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About this listen

A moving and illuminating memoir about the life of world-famous author and historian Iris ChangIris Chang's best-selling book, The Rape of Nanking, forever changed the way we view the Second World War in Asia. It all began with a photo of a river choked with the bodies of hundreds of Chinese civilians that shock Iris to her core. Who were these people? Why had this happened and how could their story have been lost to history? She could not shake that image from her head. She could not forget what she had seen.

A few short years later, Chang revealed this "second Holocaust" to the world. The Japanese atrocities against the people of Nanking were so extreme that Nazi officers based in China actually petitioned Hitler to ask the Japanese government to stop the massacre. But who was this woman that single-handedly swept away years of silence, secrecy and shame?

Her mother, Ying-Ying, provides an enlightened and nuanced look at her daughter, from Iris's home-made childhood newspaper, to her early years as a journalist and later, as a promising young historian, her struggles with her son's autism and her tragic suicide. The Woman Who Could Not Forget cements Iris's legacy as one of the most extraordinary minds of her generation and reveals the depth and beauty of the bond between a mother and daughter.

The Woman Who Could Not Forget won 2012 Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) Awards for Literature in Adult Non-Fiction category.

©2011 Ying-Ying Chang (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Art & Literature Authors Journalists, Editors & Publishers Women China Imperial Japan Social justice

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Editor reviews

Written by the mother of famed historian Iris Chang, The Woman Who Could Not Forget chronicles the life and relationships of the woman who showed the world the atrocities committed by the Japanese military. Chang's memoir is heart wrenching and beautiful. Emily Zeller's performance accentuates the close familial connections that run through this narrative. Zeller shows great depth; her clear and relatable tone helps illuminate the darkest parts of history and the woman who was brave enough to investigate them.

All stars
Most relevant
Written in a pure unbiased and honest way, No ego or anger present, just the facts.

Moving gentle unbiased

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These are the people who save the world. If only she lived longer. May she never be forgotten.

What a woman

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What intelligence, strength and courage this woman had. The whole family are such a strong unit but even the strongest cannot escape mental health.
She had so much more left to gift the world but I am grateful for what she did achieve.
Powerful

Beautiful Yet Tragic

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