On December 13, 1937, the Japanese army captured Nanjing and went on to wantonly
massacre disarmed Chinese soldiers and defenseless civilians in flagrant violation of
international conventions. The Nanjing Massacre forms one of the darkest chapters in
20th-century world history.
Researching this major historical event requires scholars worldwide to collect a variety of
primary source material in different languages. Compiled by a group of historians from
about ten universities and research institutions based in China and abroad, Human Memory:
Solid Evidence of the Nanjing Massacre represents a major effort in this regard. Consisting
of textual and pictorial evidence reproduced from major archives and libraries around
the world, the book falls into four parts—Chinese, Japanese, English, and other Western
languages. The book covers material created by victims, perpetrators, and important third
parties in a diversity of formats: diaries, petitions, investig ation reports, news articles,
tribunal documents, and photographs. To help readers to better understand the wide
range of evidence, the editors have provided very useful annotations for each document or
photograph. Without a doubt, this publication holds some of the most vivid and sobering
scenes in humanity’s collective memory.