There is no way to indicate tone of voice here other than smileys, which seem horrifically inappropriate in this thread, but my question was genuine and not meant as a challenge. I think Chang was a very well-intentioned writer who was trained as a journalist, not a historian, as pointed out earlier in the thread. That possibly explains her errors of fact and exaggeration. I also think her emotional instability caused her to come to view advocating for the victims of Nanking as a personal mission. She might have ended her life eventually in any case, but I think her choice of subject matter accelerated the process.