Iris Chang
Posted on 11/11/2004 12:38:11 PM PST by EggsAckley
'The Rape of Nanking' author is found dead
Iris Chang, the bestselling Bay Area author whose book on Japanese atrocities in China during World War II catapulted her to fame and prominence, was found dead from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. She was 36.
Chang drove down a road south of Los Gatos and shot herself in her car, authorities said.
Santa Clara County sheriff's Deputy Terrance Helm said a motorist driving Tuesday morning on Highway 17 south of the Cats restaurant in an unincorporated area near Los Gatos noticed a car a short distance down a private water district road. He pulled over to check on the vehicle and called 911.
Investigators found a frontier-type six-gun and a note in the car, according to sources with knowledge of the case.
The official cause of death was pending.
Chang suffered a breakdown and was hospitalized during a recent trip researching her fourth book about U.S. soldiers who fought the Japanese in the Philippines during World War II, her former editor and agent Susan Rabiner told the Associated Press.
Chang continued to suffer from depression after she was released from the hospital. In a note to her family, she asked to be remembered as the person she was before she became ill -- ``engaged with life, committed to her causes, her writing and her family,'' Rabiner said.
Chang's apparent suicide came as a great shock to her friends and colleagues.
``I can't believe it. She was such a shining star,'' said Ignatius Ding, a close friend since they met at a history conference in 1994.
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Iris Chang
*local news ping*
That's terrible.
The poor dear. I've read "The Rape of Nanking." I think the research she did would make anyone depressed.
That is too bad. Chang was good for the history profession.
Oh no! My husband loved her books. My thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends.
What a shame.
She left behind a husband and a two-year-old.
Pretty woman.
Probably a contract. Japanese old-timers settling a score.
May she R.I.P.
WW2 history researcher commits suicide. Foxhole ping?
So VERY young!
I read the Nanking book. Ugly disgusting subject, but she did good work. Sorry to hear this.
I saw her picture on the cover of World Journal this morning and wasn't sure who it was.
I read her books, except the most recent Chinese in America book. She covered important territory, but got more liberal in her perspective and therefore lost objectivity.
Yes, an excellent book, but extremely depressing. My heart goes out to her family.
I've also read it. That is so true.
I agree. It is not in the chinese gene to have the "whoa is me" syndrome. I'm guessing it was a hit job
Woe.
She was killed. Do the math.
I didn't realize she was so young. How sad for all her family and friends.
To be sure, researching such a topic can bend your thinking. But, as a rookie to that particular subject, I could have done without her rooting interest.
All this said, Ambrose said she was the "best we have", and I respect his opinion greatly.
Not true. Woe is me is the entire 20th century Chinese worldview. It is taught to this day to Chinese in China. It's all about opium wars and 200 years of humiliation etc...
Chang, who was American, came to identify and spout the woe is me dogma more and more. Her most recent book about Chinese in America was a total woe is me book. It was all about Chinese being discriminated against in America. It was dull and not comprehensive.
Liberalism is a mental disease and it is too bad. I saw her work and potential and was so disapointed to see her fall in to the typical lefty liberal view of oppressed minority eternal victim mind set in her writing.
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