The February 28 Incident in 1947, during which the ruling Kuomintang regime violently suppressed an antigovernment uprising by segments of the Taiwanese population, and the subsequent four decades of White Terror in Taiwan marked a significant chapter in the war-laden history of the twentieth century. There are, however, few studies of this traumatic event available in English. Sylvia Li-chun Lin's book-length investigation of this tumultuous era thus deserves serious attention.
Research on the 2/28 Incident relies on historical documents as well as creative representations of victims' experiences. Lin covers numerous stories published around the time of the incident as well as later works based on memories passed down from older generations. The book is divided into two parts: Part I focuses on literary texts and part II on films. Woven throughout are issues such as ethnicity, victimhood, atrocity, and redemption. The main goal of this book is not to theorize...
