From Third World to First: A Statesman’s Powerful Story of Transformation from Poverty to National Leadership

A truly inspiring leader. Definitely worth a read. So many life lessons and transferable bits of information to all aspects of life.

This is absolutely fascinating and more people from the Western liberal tradition should read it. We spend a lot of time debating liberalism's merits relative to socialism, or Islamism, but those movements have far fewer adherents and are a far less persuasive alternative to our own choices than the soft, managerial authoritarianism (if that's a fair description) practiced by Lee Kuan Yew. At times, reading the book you can see the limits of his arguments. He points out that alternative centres of power besides the Government (e.g. the press) are self-interested and will often make things hard for a reformist government, without giving proper credit to their genuine ability to check a corrupt or simply tired and incompetent government. The defence is that the Singaporean Government wasn't tired or corrupt but, of course, you cannot establish a society on the basis that your leaders will be (and continue to be) the right people, you plan for the wrong people being in and avoiding them being in too long. But still, the idea that a press that sees corruption everywhere might remove the political rewards for not being corrupt is powerful. In other cases, he makes an argument that at first seems wild but then becomes more and more plausible when you think about it, like that the Vietnam War, for all its faults, bought time for the Asian Tigers to strengthen their societies and then boom into prosperity. That's an enormous upside with implications for billions of people. It is a powerful example of how little we understand the implications (good and bad) of foreign interventions. I cite those two examples to illustrate how I think this book should be read: as a source of stimulation to challenge your own thinking. The structure, around issues rather than purely linear, makes that easier. A vital read.

One of the best autobiographies I've ever read. Enjoyable, funny and enlightening. Reading this you learn to respect the man even if you don't agree with everything he did but the results of Singapore speak for themselves. He turned a back water into an economic powerhouse where his people were dragged out of the mire of the third world to live with dignity as an industrialised nation, self reliant and self respecting. The language is simple making it an easy read, the writer is engaging so much so that you want to keep reading. There are interesting anecdotes about various British and Asian politicians from east and south asia..

An excellent "deep-dive" into Lee Kuan Yew's mind and reasons. Some chapters are very rich and with fascinating details about his ideas, policies and rationale for adopting these. Excellent book.

Great value, quality condition, appearance as described. Fast delivery.

Amazing book

So Interesting.

A must read for those who have a dying need to see a massive transformation in their lives and that of their beloved nation. As thoroughly described in the earlier pages of this book. You can learn how to fix a car from a book, you can learn all other stuff from books, but you cannot learn how to build a nation from a book. But to me, this is like a manual for nation building, a bible for nation building and I will recommend this book especially to all my fellow Ghanaian nationals and to all the leaders who want to make a difference in Africa. An excellent reading material. Succinctly written. Thank you Lee Kuan Yew for paving the way and showing to the whole world what results vision can achieve.

Super light weight

Written in his short, precise and highly astute style. A great book for anyone interested in learning about the development of Singapore, from the very man who built this modern marvel.

The best book on nation building. This is a true gem that should be translated to many languages.

I am absolutely spell bound by the intuition and the will power of Lee Kuan Yew in making Singapore what it is today. The book is divided into various chapters some of which looks into various sectors of the country and some which relates to his country's relations with other countries. Each chapter is separate from the other. So chronological order does not exist between chapters and is present only in the chapters. He beautifully explains the past, the changes made to reach the present state and his hopes for the future. Comparisons with India are spread out throughout the book. India and Singapore had the same economic and social conditions at the time of independence. But the decisions of the political leaders changed the course of our nation which could have become a geopolitical superpower in the Asian, which it failed to achieve in spite of being blessed with all the necessary resources, whereas Singapore achieved it with nothing. One point which hit me hard was where he mentioned that he had requested the Indian governments help to build the Singapore city right after it's independence. But the then prime minister did not even acknowledge his request. Now the irony. Some 50 years later, we are using Singaporean help in building the capital of a newly formed state.

La forza del racconto sta tutta nella voce di LKY. Non c'è spazio per il politically correct o per le teorie astratte: lui ti sbatte in faccia la realtà cruda di cosa significa governare quando non hai risorse, sei circondato da vicini ostili e devi convincere la tua gente che la disciplina vale più della gratificazione immediata. È una narrazione di un pragmatismo quasi brutale, dove ogni scelta, anche la più controversa, viene giustificata dai risultati economici e sociali raggiunti. Il libro brilla soprattutto quando descrive i dettagli minimi della gestione pubblica. Leggere come ha convinto i cittadini a non sputare per strada o come ha attirato le multinazionali americane offrendo loro un ambiente più efficiente di quello di casa loro è affascinante e, a tratti, quasi comico nella sua estrema logica. Non è la solita biografia di un leader che si autocelebra, ma una lezione magistrale di "realpolitik" applicata alla sopravvivenza di un popolo.