Lion City: Singapore and the Invention of Modern Asia by Jeevan Vasagar

Description

A compelling, illuminating and evocative history of Singapore—the world's most successful city-state.

In 1965, Singapore's GDP per capita was on a par with Jordan. Now it has outstripped Japan. After the Second World War and a sudden rupture with newly formed Malaysia, Singapore found itself independent - and facing a crisis. It took the bloody-minded determination and vision of Lee Kuan Yew, its founding premier, to take a small island of diverse ethnic groups with a fragile economy and hostile neighbours and meld it into Asia's first globalised city.

Lion City examines the different faces of Singaporean life - from education and health to art, politics and demographic challenges - and reveals how in just half a century, Lee forged a country with a buoyant economy and distinctive identity. It explores the darker side of how this was achieved too; through authoritarian control that led to it being dubbed 'Disneyland with the death penalty'.

Jeevan Vasagar, former Singapore correspondent for the Financial Times , masterfully takes us through the intricate history, present and future of this unique diamond-shaped island one degree north of the equator, where new and old have remained connected. Lion City is a personal, insightful and definitive guide to the city, and how its extraordinary rise is shaping East Asia and the rest of the world.

Product details

Goodreads rating: 4.04

Condition: Used - good

Format: Hardcover with dust jacket, 

Dimensions: 162 x 236 x 34mm, 586g

Publication date: 2 Sep 2021

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group 

ISBN-13: 9781408713600