The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II
by Iris Chang
Recommended by Jordan Peterson and Jocko Willink
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See customer reviews on Amazon →Dark, urgent narrative that reads like a sustained investigative feature: it compiles survivor testimony, diplomatic records, and reportage into a chronological account of the 1937 Nanking massacre. Its useful part is the human-scale immediacy—names, quoted witnesses, and scene-by-scene reconstruction—that makes the scale of violence palpable. Main limitation: the prose can tilt toward moral outrage and repetition, and the graphic passages and exhaustive detail may overwhelm or fatigue readers seeking a more detached, footnote-heavy history.
This summary and audience guidance are AI-generated from the book's description and its recommendation history, last updated June 2026. Recommendations, quotes and sources elsewhere on this page come from published material and are not generated.
The New York Times bestselling account of one of history's most brutal and forgotten massacres, when the Japanese army destroyed China's capital city on the eve of World War II In December 1937, one of the most horrific atrocities in the long annals of wartime barbarity occurred. The Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking (what ...
Difficulty:hard
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View available editions on AmazonWhy recommended
Recommended by 4 sources and appears in About Japan, About China, and Most Recommended Books.
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
Jordan Peterson
Clinical psychologist and author
“Here is a list of books that I found particularly influential in my intellectual development.”
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Consider Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. Recommended by 11 sources.
“Begins close to Sunja’s life and then stretches across generations to track a Korean family living in Japan, alternating intimate domestic scenes with broader historical pressures. Its useful part is the sustained emotional accumulation: small acts of endurance and sacrifice pile up into a textured portrait of belonging, exile, and family duty. Its main limitation is scope and pacing—repeated setbacks and many named characters can feel relentless, and long historical stretches slow the momentum for readers who want tighter plotting.”
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.
