Living the Asian Century: An Undiplomatic Memoir

by Kishore Mahbubani

Overview

In this stirring memoir, a preeminent politician and diplomat traces the transformation of the Republic of Singapore from a poor colony into an Asian powerhouse. 

In Living the Asian Century, Kishore Mahbubani vividly chronicles his own life going from a poor childhood in a multiethnic neighborhood to an illustrious diplomatic career that led him far from Singapore to the United States.

Along the way Mahbubani has become one of Asia’s most widely known commentators and spokespeople, with a unique perspective that straddles India, China, and the West.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541703049
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	08/13/2024
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Kishore Mahbubani is a veteran diplomat, student of philosophy, and celebrated author; he is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the National University of Singapore's Asia Research Institute. Mahbubani is also a former President of the UN Security Council (Jan 2001, May 2002) and the Founding Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (2004-2017). Mahbubani writes and speaks prolifically on the rise of Asia, geopolitics and global governance. His eight books and articles in the New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times and Foreign Affairs have earned him global recognition as "the muse of the Asian century." He was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in October 2019. More information can be found on www.mahbubani.net.

Editorial Reviews

"The rise of Asia is the great economic and political story of our age. Nobody's life story could illuminate better than Kishore Mahbubani's . This book then is far more than the fascinating autobiography of a man who is arguably Asia's most influential thinker on today's transforming global order. The experiences and achievements of his life as student, diplomat, and commentator also provide important lessons for Westerners."—Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator, Financial Times

"The arc of Kishore Mahbubani's remarkable life and career tracks the birth and rise of Singapore as an independent nation. Through insightful and amusing stories, always told with his trademark candor, this distinguished diplomat and public intellectual also provokes us to think hard about "the Asian century."—Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO, New America

"To have travelled from ‘poverty to plenty’, and lived in an eventful time in history, would endow any life with rich complexity. Kishore Mahbubani’s journey through our Asian Century, from childhood deprivation to adult eminence, reflects his brave, intrepid and fearless spirit. He offers a kaleidoscopic view of the cut and thrust of world politics as he experienced them as a diplomat in the US, alongside a local and intimate bird’s eye view of Singapore’s political struggles and those of its founding fathers, especially the inimitable Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. Zooming out of global crises and into poignant personal moments and difficulties, this is an absorbing memoir of unflinching honesty. It is a pleasure and an education to read it."—Meira Chand, recipient of Singapore’s Cultural Medallion and author of A Different Sky

“This is an inspiring story, beautifully-written, that I just could not put down. A must-read."—Indra Nooyi, former chairman and CEO, PepsiCo

“This is a story of fierce survival and grit on borrowed optimism.”—Chan Heng Chee, Singapore’s former ambassador to the United States (1996–2012) and ambassador at large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

“His seductive writing skills and excellent storytelling ability make this one of the best memoirs I’ve read of a Singapore public servant.”—Eddie Teo, Council of Presidential Advisers, Singapore

“A public intellectual of coruscating intelligence and insight, who has carved a niche for himself in the world of geopolitical ideas.”—Shashi Tharoor, author, parliamentarian, former UN Under-Secretary-General, and former government minister in India

“Apart from Lee Kuan Yew, no other Singaporean has achieved a wider reach through his writings and speeches.”—George Yeo, former foreign minister, Singapore

From the Publisher

2024-06-15
A frank career assessment by the longtime Singaporean diplomat whose tenure paralleled the decades of Lee Kuan Yew’s stewardship of the country into the international arena.

A descendant of Hindu Sindhi people who left what became Pakistan during Partition, Mahbubani (b. 1948), author ofThe Great Convergence, was born in Singapore, where his father worked as a laborer. Often drunk and mired in gambling debts, his father was not a stable provider, and the author, his mother, and his sisters struggled to make ends meet. At the same time, they lived amicably among Malay, Chinese, and Muslim neighbors, as Singapore was an entrepreneurial hub fighting for independence from Great Britain and then from the Federation of Malaysia. As the strong-armed Lee Kuan Yew steered the tiny state toward modernization and greater prosperity, Mahbubani “became convinced that the only way for me to progress was to steadily shed my primitive Asian prejudices and replace them with the advanced thought of Western civilization.” In 1967, he writes, “one of the greatest miracles of my life happened.” He was granted a President’s Scholarship to attend the University of Singapore. Although Mahbubani hoped to become a philosophy professor (“Plutarch was right—education isn’t about filling a bucket; it’s about lighting fires”), he joined the Foreign Ministry largely to support his mother, and he served for more than three decades. The author writes about his admiration of Lee, who was close to Ronald Reagan, as well as the importance of Singapore’s election to the UN Security Council in 2001. Mahbubani credits Lee with being able to stand up to the U.S., like David to Goliath, and the author went on to serve as dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. He is a straightforward, prolific, influential commenter on Southeast Asia.

An intimate view of Singapore’s stunning rise since independence.

Kirkus Reviews