Eyewitnesses to massacre : American missionaries bear witness to Japanese atrocities in Nanjing

Many in the West still think of World War II as starting either after Germany's attack on Poland in 1939 or the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, two years and four years, respectively, after long simmering tensions between the Chinese and the Japanese exploded into total war. To date, the infamous Nanjing Massacre of late 1938, in which the Japanese Imperial Army slaughtered and raped countless citizens of Nanjing, has been described from various Chinese, Japanese, and German perspectives. This book of firsthand testimony, mined from the archives of the Yale Divinity School library by Dr. Zhang and his colleagues, may be the most powerful of all, for here are eyewitness accounts by a remarkable group of nine men and one woman, dedicated, compassionate, articulate, and devout American missionaries who were there on ground zero, refusing to leave, and doing everything in their power to save the Chinese victims of this appalling atrocity. Letters from M. Searle Bates, George A. Fitch, Ernest H. Foster, John G. Magee, James H. McCallum, W. Plumer Mills, Lewis S.C. Smythe, Albert N. Steward, Minnie Vautrin, and R.O. Wilson located at the Yale Divinity School Library. xxviii, 463 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm