At the outset, the author roughly summarizes the Nanking massacre and the events leading up to it. While most Europeans consider Adolf Hitler’s 1939 invasion of Poland to be the start of World War II, in Asia the war begins in September 1931, when the Empire of Japan invades Manchuria, a region in Northeast China. Due to internal disagreements between moderates and ultranationalists within the Japanese government, it isn’t until 1937 that Japan launches a full-scale invasion of China’s biggest cities. After successfully taking the city of Shanghai following a fierce three-month battle, the Japanese Imperial Army moves inland to capture China’s new capital, Nanking.

After a four-day battle, Nanking falls to the Japanese on December 13, 1937. Despite assurances that surrendered Chinese soldiers will be treated well, the Japanese round up and execute tens of thousands of them in a matter of days. With no one left to protect the city’s civilians, the Japanese embark on a six-week campaign of murder, rape, torture, mutilation, arson, and looting that is without precedent in the modern era. Between 260,000 and 400,000 Chinese noncombatants are killed, and between 20,000 and 80,000 women are raped. The civilian death toll for Nanking alone exceeds that of Great Britain during World War II.