No.11 Iris Chang

http://www.irischang.net

Introduction

Iris Shun-Ru Chang was an American historian and journalist. Chang was born in New Jersey and earned a bachelor's degree in journalism at UIUC in 1989, during which time she also worked for New York Times. She married Bretton Lee Douglas and had one son, Christopher. She committed suicide in 2004.

Selected Works

• Thread of the Silkworm (1995)
• The Rape of Nanking:The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II (1997)
• The Chinese in America (2003)

Recognition&Awards

Chang’s success placed her as a public figure. Her second book, The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II causes a great sensation in America and lasted on the New York Times Bestseller for ten weeks. It was republished fifteen times and sold more than 500,000 copies.

Chang was one of the major advocates of a Congressional resolution proposed in 1997 to have the Japanese government apologized for war crimes. She met with First Lady Hillary Clinton in 1999 to discuss the issue. In 2007, the documentary Nanking was dedicated to Chang for her efforts made for the victims. (Wikipedia)

Influences

Iris is not only a writer, but also a historian and an activist. Her books let the Western society know about the violence Japan had done in World War Two for the first time and “breaks the silence among China, Japan and the America for the first time” (New York Times). She cited a large amount of historical data and material, and many of them are published for the first time. Due to the tremendous influence and publicity of her works, Chang suffered from physical assault and criticism from Japanese right wings and its supporters. After her death, the city of Nanking made two bronze statue for her, one of them is preserved in Nanking, and the other is placed in Stanford University.(Wikipedia)