Author Guide · Lisanne Swart
Books Written by Iris Chang
Iris Chang wrote three books of narrative history before her death in 2004, at 36. Her second, The Rape of Nanking, brought a largely forgotten atrocity into mainstream Western awareness and became a landmark of Asian-American historical writing, built on years of archival research and interviews with survivors. She died by suicide in 2004, a death her family and biographers have connected to the psychological toll of researching sustained historical trauma, alongside depression. This page covers her three books, in order.
By Lisanne Swart · 3 books · Narrative History · Updated August 2026 · ~6 min read
Quick answer
Iris Chang wrote three books: Thread of the Silkworm (1995), The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II (1997), her best-known work, and The Chinese in America (2003). She died in 2004. Start with The Rape of Nanking.
Key facts
- Born: March 28, 1968, Princeton, New Jersey · Died: November 9, 2004 (suicide)
- Books written: 3, published 1995–2003
- Best-known book: The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II (1997)
- Background: Journalist and historian, University of Illinois and Johns Hopkins
- Impact: The Rape of Nanking is widely credited with bringing the 1937–38 Nanjing Massacre into mainstream Western historical awareness
Why trust this list: Every book below is one I’ve read in full. Curated by Lisanne Swart.
In this guide
Thread of the Silkworm
Chang’s debut tells the story of Tsien Hsue-shen, a Chinese-American rocket scientist who helped found the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and pioneer American rocketry, only to be falsely accused of communist sympathies during the McCarthy era, deported to China, and go on to found China’s own space and missile program.
A lesser-known first book, but it establishes the pattern that would define her career: recovering a specific, underexamined story where American and Chinese history collide, told through one person’s life.
The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II
Chang’s account of the 1937–38 Japanese massacre of civilians in Nanjing, China — an atrocity that killed an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 people and involved widespread systematic rape, but remained largely unknown to Western readers before this book. Built on archival research, survivor testimony, and newly uncovered documents, including diaries kept by Westerners who witnessed the massacre.
A genuine landmark: the book that brought this specific atrocity into mainstream Western historical consciousness, and remains one of the most-cited accounts of it in English. Difficult, essential reading.
The Chinese in America: A Narrative History
Chang’s last book widens her lens to a full history of Chinese immigration to the United States, from the earliest arrivals through the Chinese Exclusion Act, Angel Island, Japanese-American internment’s overlap with anti-Chinese sentiment, and up to the present day.
A broader, more sweeping work than her first two books, and her final published book before her death the following year — a comprehensive account that took years of research across multiple archives.
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