Your face is so facey! 😍 Glad to see you're all ensconced in your new place! I'm assuming you've scheduled that trip to Texas for queso and margs? Just say the word and I'll have 14 pounds of cheese waiting for us.
For some reason, I've picked up - and not on purpose - several harrowing history books over the past year or so. It's time for something lighter. I told the person I read it with that we need to read some Wodehouse or Kingsley Amis. 😁
Yeah, I have this one and have "survey-read" it. Even that was brutal. Think I'll save a full reading for when I'm in a better mental state. Really like that quote about denialism as an ongoing effort to bury and ultimately annihilate the victims. And as you said, to deny the reality of what humans can be. Anyhow, excellent review, and thanks for bringing up "The Search for Modern China." Sounds like one I would be interested in.
I think you'd really like the Spence "Search for Modern China". It's a modern classic (published around 1990, I think) and takes you right up through Tiananmen Square. I'm assuming it's good because I always see it on syllabi for universities courses on modern Chinese history. It's one of the choices I'm tossing around for this Fall.
Excellent review John. Such an important book. So harrowing reading this although I am glad I have read it and it is so important not to bury these atrocities and pretend they didn’t happen. Great video 😊
What up, John! Wanted to say that this was a great discussion, and I appreciate how much you truncated the list of atrocities the Japanese committed when you listed them halfway through... I took an East Asian History of the 20th Century course in which we read a selection from this book alongside swaths of what I think is an updated edition of that Spence book you show. It was harrowing and insightful. If you want another similar type of book, I'd suggest one called An Everlasting Tombstone. It's about the Great Famine of the Mao era - maybe you've read it. Stay well, man!
Hey, Quentin. Long time, no talk! I'm sort of jealous that you're still in school and regularly able to take a wide array of classes to expose yourself to new ideas. About as close as I got to Asia was a class on Russian culture. The only other recent reading I've done on modern China is Frank Dikotter's four- (maybe five- by now) book series starting with pre-1949 and coming up through the 80s and 90s. The Great Famine and the Cultural Revolution each have their own book, and they're both fantastic. Will keep my eyes peeled for "An Everlasting Tombstone". Thanks!
Sounds like a tough read, but worthwhile. I've recently become interested in the history of geopolitics. This sounds like a must read. When I was studying, I drove buses in the mornings. The bus company had several old drivers, including my tutor when I was learning to drive buses, who had been in the war, several who had been captured and became prisoners of war. The ones captured had a hard time, but recovered, in the 3 years I worked there 4 of those Interned by the Japanese died from the effects of malnutrition and ill-treatment. I used to go and sit with the old guys and listen while on break or standby. Some of their stories would make your blood curdle.
Fascinating. I just think about all the ones who came back and weren't fine - the ones who jumped in terror every time they heard an automobile engine backfire, etc. Thanks for the story, Clare.
Sorry just getting around to viewing today John. Excellent review on a harrowing topic. Books on terrible and uncomfortable things should be read more often for sure and you did a good job bringing rhis one to light delicately.
It's eerie how often the word "harrowing" kept popping up in our Voxer discussion of it. No coincidence that it appears more than once in the comments here, too. It's the perfect adjective the book and the topic in general. Thanks, Justin.
Clearly a difficult book to read. I lived in Taiwan for a couple of years in the 90's and that is when I first heard of the rape of Nanking. I saw a docu-drama with English subtitles that I still remember as a harrowing viewing experience.
It must be a fascinating book for anyone living in Taiwan to read considering the fraught relationship between the island and the mainland. It probably adds a whole other layer of complexity to the relationship.
@@NicholasOfAutrecourtGreat pen name. My impression was that the Han Chinese shared family and culture across the water. The political systems seemed to be where the division lay. The indigenous Taiwanese had a different history and in the past experienced persecution too.
I read this years ago and still feel the horror of the story. Excellent research and writing.
Love seeing your face! 😍
Your face is so facey! 😍 Glad to see you're all ensconced in your new place! I'm assuming you've scheduled that trip to Texas for queso and margs? Just say the word and I'll have 14 pounds of cheese waiting for us.
@@NicholasOfAutrecourt I can only eat 2 ozs these days. 🤣🤣🤣
This is one of the heart rending , gut wrenching books I have ever read. This and "King Leopold's ghost".
For some reason, I've picked up - and not on purpose - several harrowing history books over the past year or so. It's time for something lighter. I told the person I read it with that we need to read some Wodehouse or Kingsley Amis. 😁
Yeah, I have this one and have "survey-read" it. Even that was brutal. Think I'll save a full reading for when I'm in a better mental state. Really like that quote about denialism as an ongoing effort to bury and ultimately annihilate the victims. And as you said, to deny the reality of what humans can be.
Anyhow, excellent review, and thanks for bringing up "The Search for Modern China." Sounds like one I would be interested in.
I think you'd really like the Spence "Search for Modern China". It's a modern classic (published around 1990, I think) and takes you right up through Tiananmen Square. I'm assuming it's good because I always see it on syllabi for universities courses on modern Chinese history. It's one of the choices I'm tossing around for this Fall.
Excellent review John. Such an important book. So harrowing reading this although I am glad I have read it and it is so important not to bury these atrocities and pretend they didn’t happen. Great video 😊
What up, John! Wanted to say that this was a great discussion, and I appreciate how much you truncated the list of atrocities the Japanese committed when you listed them halfway through... I took an East Asian History of the 20th Century course in which we read a selection from this book alongside swaths of what I think is an updated edition of that Spence book you show. It was harrowing and insightful. If you want another similar type of book, I'd suggest one called An Everlasting Tombstone. It's about the Great Famine of the Mao era - maybe you've read it.
Stay well, man!
Hey, Quentin. Long time, no talk! I'm sort of jealous that you're still in school and regularly able to take a wide array of classes to expose yourself to new ideas. About as close as I got to Asia was a class on Russian culture. The only other recent reading I've done on modern China is Frank Dikotter's four- (maybe five- by now) book series starting with pre-1949 and coming up through the 80s and 90s. The Great Famine and the Cultural Revolution each have their own book, and they're both fantastic. Will keep my eyes peeled for "An Everlasting Tombstone". Thanks!
Sounds like a tough read, but worthwhile. I've recently become interested in the history of geopolitics. This sounds like a must read. When I was studying, I drove buses in the mornings. The bus company had several old drivers, including my tutor when I was learning to drive buses, who had been in the war, several who had been captured and became prisoners of war. The ones captured had a hard time, but recovered, in the 3 years I worked there 4 of those Interned by the Japanese died from the effects of malnutrition and ill-treatment. I used to go and sit with the old guys and listen while on break or standby. Some of their stories would make your blood curdle.
Fascinating. I just think about all the ones who came back and weren't fine - the ones who jumped in terror every time they heard an automobile engine backfire, etc. Thanks for the story, Clare.
Great review, John, of a very important but horrifying read.
Thanks so much, Vin.
Sorry just getting around to viewing today John. Excellent review on a harrowing topic. Books on terrible and uncomfortable things should be read more often for sure and you did a good job bringing rhis one to light delicately.
It's eerie how often the word "harrowing" kept popping up in our Voxer discussion of it. No coincidence that it appears more than once in the comments here, too. It's the perfect adjective the book and the topic in general. Thanks, Justin.
Clearly a difficult book to read. I lived in Taiwan for a couple of years in the 90's and that is when I first heard of the rape of Nanking. I saw a docu-drama with English subtitles that I still remember as a harrowing viewing experience.
It must be a fascinating book for anyone living in Taiwan to read considering the fraught relationship between the island and the mainland. It probably adds a whole other layer of complexity to the relationship.
@@NicholasOfAutrecourtGreat pen name. My impression was that the Han Chinese shared family and culture across the water. The political systems seemed to be where the division lay. The indigenous Taiwanese had a different history and in the past experienced persecution too.