The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe by John Rabe; Erwin Wickert; John E.WoodsReview by: Lucian W. PyeForeign Affairs, Vol. 78, No. 2 (Mar. - Apr., 1999), p. 157Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20049259 .

Accessed: 14/06/2014 13:36

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Council on Foreign Relations is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to ForeignAffairs.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.216 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 13:36:27 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Recent Books

Democracy in East Asia, edited by

LARRY DIAMOND AND MARC F.

plattner. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins

University Press, 1998, 272 pp. $38.50

(paper, $14.95) In this collective study, Asian and non

Asian authors debate the desirability of

democracy in East Asia, an ideal (if some

times contradictory) testing ground for

theories about democratic transition.

The experiences of Taiwan and South

Korea suggest that economic development can set the stage for democracy, while

Singapore and Malaysia seem to negate

that theory. The region offers Japan as a

model stable democracy, but also has

four of the world's remaining Leninist

states. On the Asian values controversy,

Singaporean diplomat Bilahari Kausikan

argues that Asia does indeed have unique

political norms antithetical to Western

individualism, while Hong Kong professor Joseph Chan roundly disagrees. The

Americans, W. Theodore de Bary, Francis

Fukuyama, and Robert Scalapino, explore the cultural foundations of Asian societies

and classify their diverse political systems. In a book as full of clashing ideas as this

one, it is not surprising that no coherent

theoretical conclusion or neat summa

rization is possible. The two editors,

however, do an excellent job introducing the issues, ideas, and approaches of the

fifteen authors.

The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe, edited by erwin

Wickert (translated from the German

by John E. Woods). New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998,384 pp. $26.00.

This plainspoken diary of a remarkable German businessman makes vivid the

horrors of the Japanese conquest of Nanking.

It documents the looting, raping, and

killing of civilians in what became known

as the Rape of Nanking. John Rabe was

the Siemens factory manager in the city when the Japanese Army began its rampage

in December 1937. He quickly organized a

protected zone that, against great odds,

provided safe haven for some 250,000 Chinese civilians and ultimately saved

their lives. He personally took 650 refugees into his own home and tried to convince

the Japanese authorities to end their atroci

ties. A Nazi Party member, he even wrote

to Hitler demanding that the Japanese

government be told to stem its soldiers'

awful conduct. Armed only with his German passport and a Nazi arm band, Rabe repeatedly stopped Japanese soldiers

from raping Chinese women. He tells it

all in a straightforward manner, with great

modesty and compassion. And editor

Erwin Wickert, who met him in 1936 while traveling in China, describes Rabe

in his foreword in very human terms.

Africa GAIL M. GERHART

Famine Crimes: Politics and the Disaster

Industry in Africa, by alex de waal.

Bloomington: Indiana University Press,

1998, 256 pp. $39.95 (paper, $16.95). A powerful critique of the international

humanitarian agencies dominating famine relief in Africa. Drawing

on the

work of economist Amartya Sen, the

author argues that famine prevention

requires a political contract that allows

citizens to hold governments accountable

for famine. Such a contract is rare in

Africa, although most governments did

FOREIGN AFFAIRS March/April i999 U57]

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.216 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 13:36:27 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions