We didn't see each other as much as we did in the past. ", Her mother added, "She was in therapy all the time, but it didn't help, and she took the medicine on and off. The most startling thing Kamen uncovered about Chang, however, didnt emerge until after Finding Iris Chang was set in galleys. Getting ready for the trip, Iris went into overdrive. She got from the airport to the hotel, but that was all she could do. And maybe more than the first two books I wrote combined, too.. "We wondered what we did with all of our time before we had a son," Brett said, "because of the amount of time that a little one involves. Each breath is becoming difficult for me to take -- the anxiety can be compared to drowning in an open sea. Sixteen years later, and five days after her death, Brett sat in the living room of the San Jose town home they shared, surrounded by family photos. "Iris was so excited when she got the contract for the book," Brett said, recalling how obsessively she ferreted out material. ", The book rocketed Iris into the pantheon of American intellectuals. But today Christopher is healthy. theguardian.com. Robert Spencer / The Chronicle MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND SF CHRONICLE/ -MAGS OUT, iris chang and bataan march survivor ed martel and his wife courtesy ed martel, THIS IS A HANDOUT IMAGE. "Civilization is tissue thin," Iris wrote. "And then we stretched it to six, and then 'The Rape of Nanking' hit the best-seller list and she was out promoting it for almost two years. We called him every day, sometimes two or three times a day. The book with both Chang's and Rhodes' names on its cover has sold more copies than expected and received positive reviews, including one in the Wall Street Journal, since its launch in May. There's a girl who wants to get into Submit,' " Mr. Chang recalled. he cried. Everything points to suicide.". It was well- reviewed, though it never sold in great numbers. Let go, We all said, 'Take a break.' They lived on a leafy country road named Einstein Drive. Although Tsien was one of the founders of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and for many years helped the military of the United States debrief scientists from Nazi Germany, he was suddenly accused of being a spy and a member of the Communist Party USA, and was placed under house arrest from 1950 to 1955. The lead balls must be individually prepared, packed with gunpowder and topped with a percussive cap. According to the police report, Iris phoned a local gunsmith, an antique firearms specialist who did business from his home. (The book has yet to be translated for publication in Japan.) There are aspects of my experience in Louisville that I will never understand. "She also liked to beat the system. He could see the travel was taking a toll on her. "People who are in great treatment, who have all the love and support in the world, can still commit suicide," Jamison, author of "Understanding Suicide," has said. iris during college years with mr and mrs chang and brother michael courtesy chang family, Event on 11/16/04 in San Jose. She asked me if I was religious -- I said I wasn't, not at all. But Rabiner had been looking for someone conversant in the sciences and in Mandarin to write a biography of Hsue-Shen Tsien. The report stated that Iris had been taking two medications: the mood stabilizer Depakote, an anticonvulsant similar to lithium; and a smaller dosage of Risperdal, an antipsychotic drug commonly used to control mania, which is also thought to reduce suicide risk. In her international bestseller, "The Rape of Nanking," Chang examined one of the most tragic chapters of World War II: the mass execution of soldiers and theslaughter, rape and torture oftens of tens of thousands of Chinese civilians by Japanese soldiers in the former capital of China. Iris Shun-Ru Chang (March 28, 1968 - November 9, 2004) was a Chinese American journalist, author of historical books and political activist. FINDING IRIS CHANG: FRIENDSHIP, AMBITION, AND THE LOSS OF AN EXTRAORDINARY MIND Each breath is becoming difficult for me to takethe anxiety can be compared to drowning in an open sea. Iris would be interviewing them, somebody else would be filming them, somebody else would be photocopying records, and somebody would be sending documents down to UPS. But for us to be able to write nonfiction, the stories of our lives -- on a lot of levels, it was revolutionary. Copyright 2011 irischang.net All Rights Reserved. That book would sell half a million copies. "I knew Iris was not right," her mother said. Somehow, she always bounced back, energized by her role as spokesperson for a movement. After seeing the Nanking pictures, Iris wrote: "I was suddenly in a panic that this reversion in human social evolution would be reduced to a footnote of history unless someone forced the world to remember it. "We are a very close family. The first was John Rabe, a German member of the Nazi party who was living in the Chinese capital in 1937. By now, Brett was living in Santa Barbara, working toward a doctorate in electrical engineering at the University of California. I thought it would break the spell, break the hold of these emotions. It was later discovered that she had left behind three suicide notes each dated November 8, 2004. While en route to Harrodsburg, Kentucky, where she planned to gain access to a "time capsule" of audio recordings from servicemen, she suffered an extreme bout of depression that left her unable to leave her hotel room in Louisville. Those close to Iris had always seen her ups and downs as part of the natural cycle of a brilliant person with intense drive, passionate commitment and a capacity for hard work. ", Christopher was born Aug. 31 that year. Iris Chang's grave faces west toward wooded hillsides painted with November's glorious reds and yellows, colors of consolation before winter's starkness. She feared these vaccinations may have caused him to become autistic. She called this the most important lesson to be learned from the tragedy of Nanking. "It's baffling to me that the U.S. today has so little knowledge of the four months we held out," Martel told The Chronicle by telephone from his home in Wisconsin. Along with fear for her safety, Iris' illness generated feelings of self- blame. ", Between trips to the Midwest, Iris conducted yet another book tour. He was a happy baby, with his mother's jet-black hair. She harbored hundreds of Chinese women and children there during the occupation. Upon his return to China, Tsien developed the Dongfeng missile program, and later the Silkworm missile, which was used by the Iraqi military during its war on Iran and against the United States-led coalitions during the Persian Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Their mothers helped to plan the wedding. "Iris always came to us to discuss her problems," her mother said. " Iris was sometimes teased for her earnestness. But the gun jammed. "She's very systematic -- you see, every poem has a date on it. The imprisonment of Tsien Hsue-shen during the height of the McCarthy era has been compared to U.S. mistreatment of Wen Ho Lee, a Los Alamos scientist accused of passing secret nuclear data to mainland China. This bustling city of 6 million glimmers. Haunted by the belief that she had failed, Vautrin suffered a breakdown in 1940. Chang's first book, "Thread of the Silkworm," a critically acclaimed and engrossing study of how Cold War hysteria influenced American foreign policy, tells the ironic story of Dr. Tsien Hsue-shen (). Iris Chang is best known for two things: writing the explosive bestseller "The Rape of Nanking," and then killing herself. ", The book's popularity meant a lengthy book tour. In a funny kind of way, she was resolute, she was calm. Brett devised a "20-Point Plan to Make Iris Well," listing such remedies as going to the beach; calling friends; eating well (on her desk, she kept a book titled "How Food Affects Your Mood" next to her Franklin Planner); and getting exercise. CHANG2-C-29APR03-DD-HO.jpg It is far better that you remember me as I was -- in my heyday as a best-selling author -- than the wild-eyed wreck who returned from Louisville . Iris pushed herself "to be the best possible mother and the best possible writer," Brett said. "Sometimes, people can be both mentally ill and highly disciplined, highly structured, highly productive members of society, whether you're talking about science or business or the arts. She bought Derek Humphrys book on suicide, Final Exit, and sent boxes of her papers to three different archivesat the University of California at Santa Barbara, Stanford, and the U. of I.leaving Kamen a mountain of carefully organized materials to go through. They are the ones who brought her up." Chang dil Instead it offers the same meticulous attention to detail and thorough immersion in primary sources that distinguishes Changs exhaustively researched books, Thread of the Silkworm (1995), about an accused Chinese spy; The Rape of Nanking, published in 1997 to mark the massacres 60th anniversary; and the 2003 narrative history The Chinese in America. Newsweek ran an excerpt, and soon Iris was a familiar face on TV news shows. Speaking of the night they met, Brett said, "Iris was beautiful, vivacious -- and sober. Now, in THE CHINESE IN AMERICA: A Narrative History (Viking; On-sale Date: April 28, 2003) Chang explores the history of one of this countrys fastest growing ethnic groups. ", During two years of research, Iris made significant historical discoveries. Iris Chang was a young child when her parents first told her stories about a slaughter of the Chinese people so horrible as to be almost beyond belief. "She's very strong- willed," her mother said. The Rape of Nanking remained on the New York Times Bestseller list for 10 weeks. ", He added, sadly, "I think if we had, I would have noticed earlier that things were going wrong.". "For three days they gave her medication, the first time in her life." Iris ate quickly, asked for green tea to go and charged $15.11 to her credit card. ". "The doctors wanted her to continue in therapy, so sometimes they would go along with her. About the suicide of her own daughter, Chang believed it was probably the side effects of psychiatric medication that led Iris to end her life. asked Iris, knowing Martel had been saved from near starvation by the brushy mustache he wore. Homicide detectives would eventually determine that Iris had loaded all six chambers of the gun, placed the barrel between her lips, and fired. They kept in touch every day by e-mail. Chang had returned to World War II for the book she was working on when she died, interviewing survivors of the Bataan Death March who were, like the Chinese, demanding an official apology from the Japanese government. Chang said she usually gives three reasons for her unconventional decision to write her daughter's biography: to commemorate Iris, to tell Iris' son, Christopher Douglas, all about the. It documents atrocities committed against Chinese by forces of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and includes interviews with victims. She was very depressed." In her book, Kamen recalls how Chang approached an editor on one of her first days at the U. of I.s Daily Illini and asked simplywithout small talk or polite conversationHow do I get your job? Brett's father, Ken Douglas, had flown out to keep his son company. "Tell me why you want to tell the story.". ", On her trip to China, she met with survivors from Nanking. After her own years of research on the interplay of hormones and the brain, Kamen believes. Many families sent me emails after reading my book," said Chang, citing an example of a couple shocked by the suicide of their daughter, a Stanford graduate who seemed to have a bright future. Rabiner sensed the book would be important and signed Iris to write it. They are the ones who brought her up." Both were born in mainland China. It happens every day of the week, and people just don't know it because people don't talk about it.". "This high school alone lost 200 students -- 28 were with the Bataan company. She finally agreed that she would talk to me. . She got very, very wound up in things," Finkbeiner said. Iris met the man she would marry in 1989, when she was a sophomore in journalism at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. "It's all for the sake of and in memory of my beloved daughter," Chang said. She was best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the Nanking Massacre, The Rape of Nanking. . After leaving Reed's Sport Shop at noon on Monday, Nov. 8, Iris tried to load the revolver she had just purchased. The parents of Iris Chang sit close together, their faces drawn. Just do it!" ", His voice slipped to a whisper. ", Three days before Iris' death, Brett dreamed up a special weekend, just for her. We've seen staged suicides and we've seen homicides. Tall and slender, with glossy black hair falling well past her shoulders, Iris emerged from her car wearing blue jeans and sneakers. In one often-mentioned incident (as reported by The Times of London): she confronted the Japanese Ambassador to the United States on television, demanded an apology and expressed her dissatisfaction with his mere acknowledgement "that really unfortunate things happened, acts of violence were committed by members of the Japanese military". She was trying to be a top-notch mother and she was also trying to prepare for her trip.". On the day of Iris Chang's death, word spread quickly over news wires and the Internet. Iris Chang interview, Barbara Simpson show, KSFO radio, San Francisco, California 1998 November 8. It read: "I promise to get up and get out of the house every morning. "Most lived in dark, squalid apartments cluttered with the debris of poverty and heavy with mildew and humidity," she wrote. Photos for a profile of Iris Chang, a prominent author and historian, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Iris Chang (), before her untimely death, was one of America's leading young historians. Theirs was not just a story of war, but of boys becoming men, she said in a transcription of one of her many taped interviews. Meanwhile, Iris was one of a dozen journalism undergraduates chosen for an accelerated Associated Press training program. It was very painful for me to think about, even then. At 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, a county water district employee drove past the Oldsmobile. Box. We go through her and her husband's (Brett Douglas) house in San jose. "He could tell that she was a lot different after she came back from Louisville. Once the Allies won the war, the story was forgotten. Some 300,000 Chinese people were brutally killed; about 100,000 women were raped in matter of 4 to 5 weeks. He established an International Safety Zone in Nanking before the Japanese soldiers arrived from Shanghai. Irrefutably, Iris Chang won many battles in her fight for justice. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. The lack of sleep can exacerbate the illness and vice versa. Home Deep Cleaning . The Police Department drafted a missing person's report. Iris dubbed him the "Oskar Schindler of Nanking.". He was misled by Iris. A local veteran, Arthur Kelly, who was assisting her research helped her check into Norton Psychiatric Hospital in Louisville, where she was diagnosed with reactive psychosis, placed on heavy medication for three days and then released to her parents. $ 4.79 - $ 21.29. It was a Thursday, nine days after her death. SHAU-JIN CHANG (FATHER), left, AND YING-YING CHANG (MOTHER), PARENTS OF IRIS CHANG, WHO COMMITTED SUICIDE IN NOVEMBERR 2004. Then she got back up again. "We went out and did really long hikes, and it seemed to help. This is why we offer the book compilations in this website. But there was none. Home; Features; Services; About; Contact; Login; Get Free Demo; christopher douglas iris chang For Asian Americans to write nonfiction about Asia or Asian America was relatively new. @TheJohnRylands. It caused an international scandal because the Japanese to this day have not conceded the extent of the wartime atrocities perpetrated against the Chinese and others. In the final version, she added: "There are aspects of my experience in Louisville that I will never understand. She helped Iris write a proposal and the project was quickly put under contract. She came alive before crowds -- she loved to share, and she was interested in other people's lives. She wrote three books, which made her visible as a public figure. Mo Hayder dedicated a novel to her. "She got used to the fact that there is a Web site called 'Iris Chang and Her Lies.' Investigators concluded that Chang had shot herself through the mouth with a revolver. She asked if Iris had any friends there she could call for help. Classical AF dissonance between pride in her culture and inability to integrate. "When Iris' condition got really bad, we sent him to stay with my parents in Illinois. Iris collapsed in bed. By the time her plane landed in Louisville, she was overwhelmed by exhaustion and anxiety. . "You didn't always feel she was talking to you --, it was as if she had to talk. More at IMDbPro Contact info Agent info Resume Born August 26, 1969 Add to list Known for The Young and the Restless 5.2 TV Series Sean Bridges 2001 5 eps "Not only because she started thinking about writing The Rape of Nanking in Cupertino, but also because she gave speeches in Cupertino many times, this book signing event in Cupertino is significant to me.". Her obituary was published in newspapers worldwide. But that meant diving back into her Bataan Death March research. The result, Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition, and the Loss of an Extraordinary Mind, out this month from Da Capo Press, details Changs celebrated and controversial career as a journalist and historical author as well as Kamens relationship with her. After her death, she became the subject of tributes from fellow writers. (In the book, Iris noted that Vautrin had graduated with honors from her own alma mater, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.) Chang, 36 . Iris Shun-Ru Chang was born March 28, 1968, in Princeton Hospital, on the university campus in New Jersey where her parents were doing postdoctoral work. Soon she exceeded the dreams of every student in the program by getting a book contract from a major publisher while still in school. Her last, widely-acclaimed book focused on Chinese immigrants and t heir descendents in the United States their sacrifices, their achievements and their contributions to the fabric of American culture, an epic journey spanning more than 150 years. But Into the Numbers, by the Chinese-American playwright Christopher Chen, genuinely is. But there has to be dialogue about how to do that in the long term., In All in My Head, Kamen documents how she learned to slow down and come to terms with a life of chronic pain. Iris Shun-Ru Chang was born March 28, 1968, in Princeton Hospital, on the university campus in New Jersey where her parents were doing postdoctoral work. On top of that, she wasn't sleeping. But this time, "she appeared unhappy," the manager told investigators. I was there for three days and we talked. "She didn't like other people taking control, so she resisted" his attending any of her therapy sessions. from dust we come to dust we return quran. She is best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the Nanking Massacre, The Rape of Nanking. It was sort of scary as a journalist to be thinking, if this could happen to her and she supposedly had no history [of mental illness], and she was so much more put together than I am, just for me the question was how to survive our toxic topics. "Iris was really good at putting her best face forward, even when she was totally exhausted, so I didn't really perceive that there was a real problem," Brett said. "But gradually, she became very depressed," said her father, adding that her doctor in California prescribed an additional medication, an antidepressant. Event on 11/16/04 in San Jose. "She would go into a town -- and with Tony Meldahl's help, it was even better. For her, it was a relief," said Masin. I don't know how many printings it went through. Iris got a massage. Brett said Iris was anxious to get back to work. "She appeared to have done research." ", "Chinese Americans grew up hearing about this forgotten holocaust," said Zia, whose grandmother was killed in Nanking. Pearl Harbor was still smoldering when Japanese planes bombed the Philippines' Bataan Peninsula, where Martel was stationed with a National Guard tank battalion. "I wanted to give support to families that suffered the same kind of loss, and it really worked in that way. After dinner Monday night, Iris returned a call to her agent. Less than two months later, she did. "We saw cartoons where she was portrayed as this woman with a great big mouth," Brett said. In a single blinding moment I recognized the fragility of not just life but the human experience itself.". In 1995, at age 27, Chang flew from California to Nanjing in East China's Jiangsu province. As a youngster, Iris had sought books on the subject in her school library. Her husband, Shau-Jin, is a theoretical physicist. When Martel read in a newspaper about her death, he asked his daughter, "Is that our Iris? In her goodbye note, Iris described her guilt about having allowed her son, Christopher, to be vaccinated before the age of 2. She also focused on human rights. Iris Chang received several other awards, including the Woman of the Year award from the Organization of Chinese Americans, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Program on Peace and International Cooperation Award. When you do not, you live not just by the day -- but by the minute. I told her that I wanted her to call me the next night and every night after that until she worked out the details. Paula Kamen. She would have a team of three vets and their children and their wives. She worked briefly as a reporter for the Associated Press and the Chicago Tribune before completing a graduate degree in writing from the Johns Hopkins University and launching her career as a full-time author and lecturer. "She was very tired," her mother said. $ 4.69 - $ 6.59. Iris arrived at the gunsmith's at about 2 p.m., carrying a Reed's Sport Shop Bag. Her mother said, "She was always publishing something. This could be a one-time event or it could signal the onset of bipolar disorder, the doctors told them. Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking, ended her life with a pistol on November 9, 2004. ", Then she wrote a suicide note -- addressed to her parents, Brett and her brother -- followed by a lengthy revision. ", Iris called Rabiner. Dive into our most recent stories and exclusive insights from our editors and staff. Iris Shun-Ru Chang was a Chinese-American historian and journalist. "Michael is very outgoing, very extroverted -- Iris is different," said Mrs. Chang. Iris Shun-Ru Chang (Hanzi tradisional: . This is a carousel. She was a journalism graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana and worked briefly as a reporter in Chicago before winning a graduate fellowship to the writing seminars program at The Johns Hopkins University. And that really took its toll on her, too.". She is best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the Nanking Massacre, The Rape of Nanking. She wrote, "The America of today would not be the same America without the achievements of its ethnic Chinese," and that "scratch the surface of every American celebrity of Chinese heritage and you will find that, no matter how stellar their achievements, no matter how great their contribution to US society, virtually all of them have had their identities questioned at one point or another."[12]. "But I woke up at 2 a.m. and she was pacing the hallway," Brett said. On the far wall, a gallery of mounted deer heads marked her destination: the hunting department. It showed that at times history has to be written by a member of the community, out of a passion the author shares with the community. Among other things, the compulsively well-organized Chang began losing credit cards every couple of weeks, according to Douglas, and in her last year she became paranoid about everything from viruses attacking her computer to attempts by the government to recruit her, a la The Manchurian Candidate. Chang, with a Ph.D. in biological chemistry from Harvard University, had a scientist's career until her retirement in 2002. January 26, 2008, Sunday Star-Times magazine The motorist who went to investigate the white Oldsmobile parked just off highway 17, which runs between San Jose and Santa Cruz in Northern California, was a county employee. Iris Chang (Author, . "We spoke for two hours, from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m.," Rabiner said. [15], Iris Chang Park in San Jose, that opened in November 2019, is a municipal park dedicated to Chang. We'll be sending you The Daily Reader starting soon. "But Iris herself did not believe she was sick." The half-inch lead ball perforated her hard palate, passed through her left dural sinus, her left cerebral and occipital lobes, broke partially through her skull and came to rest without exiting her scalp. It became a surprise best-seller. And she loved it. At the first memorial -- that evening's "visitation" -- friends signed the guest book and offered condolences to the family. Worse, Chang had started out as a computer science major and switched with Kamens encouragement. Ran on: 11-20-2004 Schell reviewed her book favorably in the New York Times. The manager knew her as a customer and an author -- Iris and Brett ate there often. ", They had moved from a small apartment in Sunnyvale to the San Jose townhome. You're not on a moving train. She is best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the Nanking Massacre, The Rape of Nanking. But just in time, Iris changed the subject, prompting him to tell a lighter story. But some scholars felt that she was a little too involved with her subject matter. Between eulogies, a guitarist played "Let It Be." Opting for a master's degree, she was accepted by the Graduate Writing Seminar at Johns Hopkins University and moved to Baltimore in 1990. Thread of the Silkworm. That's why she was such a powerful role model for so many Chinese Americans. Waking at 5 a.m., Brett saw Iris was gone. "She was afraid of him when he showed up," Smith said. ", Seeing how the survivors lived was as harrowing as hearing their stories. FINDING IRIS CHANG: FRIENDSHIP, AMBITION, AND THE LOSS OF AN EXTRAORDINARY MIND, Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition, and the Loss of an Extraordinary Mind, 2023 Chicago Police District Councils Voter Guide, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. [5] She then embarked on her career as an author and lectured and wrote magazine articles. We always had to argue all the exceptions she could think of. "This was something of a roots venture for her -- to reconnect with the country that her family had drifted off from," said UC Berkeley's Schell. Chang also experienced several miscarriages all said to influence the onset of bipolar disorder. She was initially a computer science major, but switched to journalism, earning a bachelor's degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1989. Iris Chang lived and worked in California. Beautiful as always, she was dressed in an indigo blue suit, identical in color and hue to the dress in the photograph. He recalled telling Iris about the worst of his Bataan experiences. The medicine made her feel sluggish. It didn't take him long to propose, but their 1989 engagement stretched out while Brett finished grad school in Urbana. Her up. battles in her fight for justice black hair falling well past shoulders... 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