Lion City: Singapore and the Invention of Modern Asia

Summary

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 neighbors and meld it into Asia's first globalized 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.