Lee Kuan Yew: The Grandmaster's Insights Review

The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and the World
Recommend: 4/5
224 Pages

This book is a collection of quotes and interviews of Lee Kuan Yew with a foreword by Henry Kissinger.

Lee Kuan Yew is the founder and former prime minister of Singapore. He lived from 1923 until 2015. This book is very relevant for all those who are interested in Startup Societies.

Lee began formulating his political thoughts during the Japanese occupation of Singapore from 1942 until 1945. He narrowly avoided a massacre after a Japanese soldier asked Lee and other Chinese men to gather. Lee asked for permission to gather his clothes, and escaped. When he returned, he found that all of the other men he was with had been executed. That is when Lee realized that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.

In 1954, the People's Action Party was launched, and Lee quickly rose to power over the next several years as Singapore gained its independence. Lee Kuan Yew took Singapore from a third world backwater to the most powerful city state in the world.

His insights on China, America, and Japan are truly fascinating. He has an incredible ability to clearly highlight and explain problems, and just by reading his words one can understand how he accomplished so much.