Singapore Through 19th Century Photographs
Jason Toh
Singapore: Editions Didier Millet, 2009
ISBN: 9789814260060

Singapore Through 19th Century Photographs is a comprehensive photographic record of Singapore from the early 1840s to the 1900s. Paired with lively commentary, the more than 120 rare photographs from leading institutional and private collections recreate a compelling portrait of 19th century Singapore.

Emphasising the topographical and architectural landscape of the city and its surrounding environs, this visually irresistible city tour transports the reader back to the Singapore of an earlier age, a city that has now changed beyond recognition. The vibrant old metropolis is brought back to life through insightful captions and mostly albumen prints, the dominant photographic medium of the second half of the 19th century.

Moreover, also documenting the growth of photography in Southeast Asia, this book reveals a watershed moment. The rise of international trade and the push for immigration led many Western studio photographers to seek their fortunes in the East, during a period that coincided with a rise in tourist travel, sparked by improvements to transportation networks. These propitious conditions set the stage for intense production of commercial photographs of Singapore, and the book captures this unique moment of rapid development, both with the photographs shown and the perceptive analysis offered in the text.

Illustrating the city at its most striking, Singapore Through 19th Century Photographs records a dynamic moment of development for both photography and of Singapore, the pre-eminent port-city of Southeast Asia.

CultureShock!: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette: Singapore [2nd ed.]
Marion Bravo-Bhasin
USA: Marshall Cavendish, 2009
ISBN: 9780761456766

CultureShock! Singapore takes you inside the tiny island nation at the tip of the Malaysian archipelago and pulls back the veneer on a country that is both Asian and Western at the same time. Discover how this multi-racial society manages to work like clockwork despite its disparate backgrounds, and find out how to deal with the people's kiasu attitude. Through this book - filled with practical information and tips for everyday living - you will learn more about the different local and ethnic customs and beliefs, and be introduced to its diverse and mouth-watering cuisine. CultureShock! Singapore is the definitive read for anyone who wants to settle easily into Singaporean society and it will have you understanding Singlish in no time.

Interlogue: Studies in Singapore Literature: Volume 8: Interviews II
Ronald D. Klein (ed.)
Singapore: Ethos Books, 2009
ISBN: 9789810835910

In this volume of 12 interviews, Professor Ronald D. Klein includes the insights of critic Ong Sor Fern, the background and thoughts of poets like Felix Cheong, Madeleine Lee and Yong Shu Hoong, playwright Ovidia Yu, short story writer Jeffrey Lim and filmmaker Eric Khoo. David Leo and Alfian Sa'at, who write in several genres, are also included. Interviews with Ng Yi-Sheng, Daren Shiau and Cyril Wong complete this volume.

This is an important book for readers who wish to know more about contemporary Singapore writing.

Criminal Intent: True Stories From Changi Prison
Wong Kim Hoh
Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2009
ISBN: 9789812618894

Criminal Intent: True Stories From Changi Prison tells the stories behind the crimes committed by 12 inmates currently incarcerated in Changi Prison.

Written by veteran Straits Times journalist Wong Kim Hoh, the accounts as told by the inmates of their modus operandi and the reasons behind them, all make compelling reading.

Commissioned by the Singapore Prison Service, the cases include outrage of modesty, robbery, cheating and rape. With a foreword by Ng Joo Hee, Director of Prisons.

Men In White: the Untold Story of Singapore's Ruling Political Party
Sonny Yap, Richard Lim, and Leong Weng Kam
Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2009
ISBN: 9789814266246

Men In White is the inside story of one of the world's most successful political parties - the ruling People's Action Party of Singapore. With its victory in the 2006 polls, PAP has won 12 successive general elections since it assumed power in 1959.

Narrated in three parts, it chronicles the rise, fall, capture, split and rise of a political party which has become synonymous with the spellbinding success of Singapore, and delves into the reasons for its track record and longevity.

Part One tells how Lee Kuan Yew and his anglicised associates collaborated with radical Chinese-speaking trade unionist to form a small left-wing party in 1954 to drive out the British colonialists and how they fell out over the issue of merger with Malaya.

Part two captures the agonies of leadership self-renewal.

Part Three wraps up the PAP story by tracing the origins and discussing some of the key principles that characterised Singapore governance.

Voice of Malayan Revolution: The CPM Radio War Against Singapore and Malaysia, 1969-1981
Wang Gungwu & Ong Weichong (eds.)
Singapore: S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, 2009
ISBN: 9789810836399

Voluminous works - popular and academic - have been written on how the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) lost the shooting war in the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960). But much less has been said on what happened thereafter. By 1960, the CPM's "long march" from the Malayan interior into Southern Thailand was complete. In a sanctuary far from the writ of the Malaysian and Thai governments, the CPM reorganised, reviewed their strategy and bided their time. In 1968, inspired by the Cultural Revolution in Red China and events in Indochina, the CPM sought for a second time to establish a "People's Republic" in the Malay Peninsula. From 1968 to 1989, the Malaysian security forces and the CPM once again confronted each other in jungles of the Malaysian-Thai border in what was known as the Second Emergency.

In an attempt to subvert the populations of Malaysia and Singapore and win them over to their revived revolutionary cause, the CPM embarked on a clandestine radio war. From a Chinese military base in Hunan, China, the CPM's underground radio network transmitted under the codename Project 691 and on the airwaves as "Suara Revolusi Malaya" or "Voice of Malayan Revolution" (VMR).

This edited volume, for the very first time, reproduces a selection of those broadcasts. These hitherto classified transcripts of the Internal Security Department, Singapore, are supplemented with an introductory essay and chapter introductions that seek to situate the selected documents against the revolutionary events of the 60s and 70s not only in Singapore and Malaysia but the whole of Southeast Asia. This selection is accompanied by a CD containing all available transcripts of VMR broadcasts made form its very first broadcast in 1969 to its very last in 1981.

Far from being a spent force, the CPM had the capacity and resources to revive their ideological struggle against the newly emergent post-colonial states of Malaysia and Singapore for another 12 long years. This edited volume is part of that story.

The Little Red Dot: Reflections by Singapore's Diplomats, Volume II
Tommy Koh & Chang Li Lin (eds.)
Singapore: World Scientific, 2009
ISBN: 9789814271868

This is the sequel to the bestselling book, The Little Red Dot, published in 2005. This volume is a collection of essays by the third-generation of young diplomats, with a Foreword penned by the Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Raymond Lim. It contains many inspiring stories that demonstrate the resilience and inventiveness of young diplomats. It also includes an updated and comprehensive Annex of the milestones of Singapore's external relations. This book is a highly enjoyable read for all who are interested in Singapore current affairs and in the art and science of diplomacy.

In the stories contained in this book you will find and discover:

• The cultures of countries such as Cambodia, Saudi Arabia and Thailand
• Lessons in crisis management
• Courage and teamwork amidst crises
• How international treaties are formulated behind the scenes
• The necessity of exercising one's brains and opening his/her heart in diplomacy
  

Path of the Righteous Crane: The Life & Legacy of Eu Tong Sen
Ilsa Sharp
Singapore: Landmark Books, 2009

ISBN: 9789814189224

The name of Eu Tong Sen is well known in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Yet to date, there has been little of substance written about the man; much of what there is has been drawn from a deep well of unsubstantiated folklore.

Ilsa Sharp's account of Eu Tong Sen's life, based on voluminous research by academic Maria Yang Tse-oy, has theatre aplenty, from mystic feng shui mountains and murder by poison, through dare-devil jungle trekking to fending off revolutionaries, taking on the opium establishment, playing political games with colonial masters, consorting with opera stars, racehorses, flashy cars and women (11 wives), building stately palaces and castles, and above all, the amassing of enormous personal wealth, a respectable part of which went to family, friends, and needy causes, from schools to hospitals.

Yet this is no ordinary tale of a towkay who just struck it rich. Eu Tong Sen stands tall as a man of his age, and also ours, signalling a future 'Renaissance Chinese' character that would combine the best of many worlds and so produce something quite new. In this, Eu Tong Sen was a man well before his time. His life was not a footnote to the period of history he lived in; it was an integral part of the main narrative of the lives of the people who called themselves hua qiao, the Overseas Chinese.

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.

Sentosa Cove: Island Modern
Yu-Mei Balasingamchow
Singapore: Editions Didier Millet, 2009

ISBN: 9789814217651

Just 15 years ago, few could have imagined that the quiet eastern shore of Sentosa would one day become the crowning glory of luxury living in Singapore. Land that was once marked by no more than a few groves of coconut trees is now home to the prestigious gated communities and signature bungalows of Sentosa Cove, Singapore's first and only oceanfront marina residential community. This lavishly illustrated volume tells the story of how Sentosa Cove rose on the back of the vision, ambition and inspiration of the pioneering few who saw its potential, and provides a showcase to the stunning design and cutting-edge architecture that epitomise the development. Evocative images and descriptive passages provide a guide to an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the lush landscape and waterfront homes of this tropical residential resort, and a glimpse into the privileged lifestyle of its international community. This stylishly presented book will appeal to those interested in resort development, architects and designers, and photography-lovers.