Recommended Reading

Brightly painted Buddhist mantra. © Richard I'Anson. Lonely Planet Images

• A History of Singapore, by CM Turnball, provides a detailed overview of Singapore's history from prehistory to the present.

• Lee Kuan Yew--The Struggle for Singapore, by Alex Josey, covers the former PM's rise to power and the successful path along which his People's Action Party piloted Singapore.

• Fictional accounts of Singapore can be found in Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim, Somerset Maugham's Borneo Stories, Paul Theroux's Saint Jack and James Clavell's King Rat. Fistful of Colours by Suchen Christine Lim (winner of the Singapore Literature Prize) contrasts the differences and outlines the tensions between modern and traditional ethnic communities in Singapore.