Includes bibliographical references and index.

Cover -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Introduction -- THE MAKING OFA POLITICIAN -- 1 It Began When My World Collapsed -- 2 Taking on the Communists -- 3 The Union Divided -- IDEAS THAT MADE A NATION -- 4 The Secret of Good Government -- 5 From Third World to First -- 6 End of History? Asia's JustBeginning -- 7 The Nature of Human Society -- 8 Culture, the X-Factor -- 9 First Order, then Law -- 10 Minding the Media -- THE MAN BEHIND THE IDEAS -- I Did My Best -- IN HIS OWN WORDS: SELECTED SPEECHES AND INTERVIEWS -- If I were an Englishman -- The returned student -- Colonies are out of date -- The battle for hearts and minds -- How I came to know the communists -- Why the British misled the communists -- Clowns and crooks -- What does Malaysia mean to us? -- Preserving Malay special rights -- What will all this bickering lead to? -- Enemy of the people? -- Prime Minister, what if you had been arrested? -- On our own -- but we will succeed -- Singapore's fate depends on 300 men -- The trouble with the civil service -- Make sure every button works -- Clean, clear prose -- How much is a good minister worth? -- What I mean by a more just and equal society -- Endless arguments over how many engineers to produce -- What's wrong with the Singapore worker -- Who does Singapore Airlines belong to? -- Leadership makes the difference -- What price democracy? -- They would want the stars -- Universality of democracy? -- What people want is goodgovernment -- Some men, two votes? -- An unrepentant socialist -- Why the welfare states failed -- Schools must have character -- Being a hard nation -- The difference between the Malays and the Chinese -- It's not just about firing crackers and New Year food -- We are too Westernised -- Justice and fair play -- Don't be afraid to innovate the law -- The ballot and the bullet -- The mass media in new countries.

Why everything and anything cannot go -- Which role model for the Singapore press? -- You appear to some degree dictatorial -- How to make SIA a great way to fly -- My birthday wish -- Bibliography -- Photographs -- 453Index.

Lee Kuan Yew passed away on 23 March 2015 at the age of 92. This book, which was first published in 1998, tells the story of his life from when the Japanese occupied Singapore in 1941 until 1998 when he was Senior Minister. Based on 13 exclusive interviews held over 30 hours, this book chronicles the events, people and political fortunes that were to shape Lee's view of the world, as well as the path he set for the transformation of Singapore. It delves into the choices he made, the political turnings he took, the insights gained and lessons learnt, some of which were expounded to the authors for the first time, with wit, wisdom, candour and vivid recollection. Written by three leading journalists from The Straits Times.

English.