Singapore

by Carl A. Trocki

This volume examines Singapore’s culture of control, exploring the city-state’s colonial heritage as well as the forces that have helped to mould its current social landscape. Taking a comparative approach, Trocki demonstrates the links between Singapore’s colonial past and independent present, focusing on the development of indigenous social and political movements. In particular, the book examines the efforts of Lee Yew Kuan, leader of the People’s Action Party from 1959 until 1990, to produce major economic and social transformation. Trocki discusses how Singapore became a workers paradise, but what the city gained in material advancement it paid for in intellectual and cultural sterility. Based on the latest research, Singapore addresses the question of control in one of the most prosperous and dynamic economies in the world, providing a compelling history of post-colonial Singapore.

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 13, 2005

About the author

Carl A. Trocki is an American historian, an expert in Southeast Asia and China. He was professor of Asian Studies at the Queensland University of Technology, director of the Centre for Community and Cross-Cultural Studies of the QUT, Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Trocki previously was Jacobson Visiting Associate Professor of Southeast Asian History at Georgetown University and also taught at Thomas More College. He served in the US Peace Corps in Malaysia, and received the BA from Cleveland State University. He is a native of Erie Pennsylvania.

He holds Ph.D. in Southeast Asian history from the Cornell University.

Reviews

[Gladys Tong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good starting point for readers interested in getting a compressed history of Singapore. There are many things I wish he had elaborated more, but as I have mentioned, it is a starting point. His goal was to identify the critical events in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that gave rise to a twenty-first-century Singapore and leave readers to decide if they want to dig deeper into the details elsewhere.