A History of Modern Singapore, 1819-2005 [Revised edition]
C. M. Turnbull
Singapore: NUS Press, 2009

ISBN: 9789971693435

When C.M. Turnbull's A History of Singapore, 1819-1975 appeared in 1977, it quickly achieved recognition as the definitive history of Singapore. A second edition published in 1989 brought the story up to the 1988 election. This fully revised version takes into account recent scholarship, including the work of social and cultural historians. The author has added a chapter on Goh Chok Tong's premiership (1990-2004) and the transition to a government headed by Lee Hsien Loong. The book now ends in 2005, when the Republic of Singapore celebrated its 40th anniversary as an independent nation.

Major changes occurred in the 1990s as the generation of leaders that oversaw the transition from a colony to independence stepped aside in favour of a younger generation of leaders. Their task was to shape a course that sustained the economic growth and social stability achieved by their predecessors, and they would be tested toward the end of the decade when Southeast Asia experienced a severe financial crisis.

While most modern studies have focused on contemporary or very recent times and Singapore's successful transition from the developing to the developed world, younger historians are increasingly interested in other aspects of their past. A History of Modern Singapore, 1819-2005 provides a general framework for their research, giving due weight to the origins, early development and successive periods of Singapore's history.