Chang, Iris (1968–2004)

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Chang, Iris (1968–2004)

Chinese-American historian. Born Iris Shun-Ru Chang, Mar 28, 1968, in Princeton, New Jersey; grew up in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois; committed suicide, Nov 9, 2004, near Los Gatos, California; dau. of a professor of physics (father) and a microbiologist (mother); graduated in journalist from University of Illinois, 1989; attended Johns Hopkins University; m. Brett Douglas (electronics engineer); children: Christopher.

Because of grandparents who had fled Nanking (1937), was outraged that textbooks contained no mention of the atrocities during the Sino-Japanese war; came to prominence with the international bestseller The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II (1997), having used original documents, interviews and an important diary for her sources; also wrote Thread of the Silkworm (1995) and The Chinese in America (2003).