In December 1937, the Japanese army invaded the ancient city of Nanking, systematically raping, torturing, and murdering more than 300,000 Chinese civilians. This book tells the story from three perspectives:

• The Japanese soldiers who performed it,
• The Chinese civilians who endured it,
• And a group of Europeans and Americans who refused to abandon the city and were able to create a safety zone that saved many.

In this seminal work, Iris Chang, whose own grandparents barely escaped the massacre, draws on extensive interviews with survivors and documents brought to light for the first time, providing a definitive history of this horrifying episode.