Graham Allison is Douglas Dillon Professor of Government and Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. Robert D. Blackwill is Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. Ali Wyne is an associate of the Belfer Center.
This short book [is] packed with intelligence and insight. If you
are interested in the future of Asia, which means the future of the
world, you've got to read this book.—Fareed Zakaria, CNN, "Book of
the Week"
Lee's powerful intellect is captured in a new book, Lee Kuan Yew:
The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and the
World. It's a collection of interviews with him by Harvard
University professor Graham Allison, Council on Foreign Relations
senior fellow Robert Blackwill and Harvard's Belfer Center
researcher Ali Wyne, while also drawing on other selected and cited
writings by and about Lee. Now 89, officially retired and somewhat
frail, Lee has mellowed with age—not unlike his creation Singapore,
governed today with a lighter touch even as its citizens grow more
vocal. Yet, as the book, and the adaptation here of the China
chapter, reveal, Lee is as sharp, direct and prescient as ever.
Though the volume was completed before China's current territorial
tensions with its neighbors, it helps expose, and explain,
Beijing's hardball mind-set.—TIME Magazine
Graham Allison and Bob Blackwill have important questions to ask
about China, America and the extraordinary impact of the
relationship of those two countries on the rest of the world. For
answers, they turned to Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first premier and
one of the world's most formidable geopolitical thinkers and
strategists. The result is a fascinating book called Lee Kuan Yew:
The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and the
World.—Ian Bremmer, Reuters
Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United
States, and the World forms a kind of last testament of the ailing,
89-year-old Mr. Lee. It is based on interviews with Mr. Lee by the
authors—Graham Allison, a professor of government at Harvard's
Kennedy School, and Robert Blackwill, a former U.S. diplomat—to
which the authors add a distillation of Mr. Lee's speeches,
writings and interviews with others over many years.—Karen Elliott
House, Wall Street Journal
Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United
States, and the World is an anthology of interviews and speeches
Lee has given over the last four decades…readers will find
themselves entertained and challenged by Lee Kuan Yew's lucidity,
powerful arguments and acerbic tongue.—Anchalee Kongrut, Economic
Observer
Lee is a force of nature. Up close and personal, he can blow you
away with one overpowering dismissive glare. Has there ever been
anyone like him?... [The book] will reinforce the consensus view
that Asia bred something special in Lee.—Tom Plate, South China
Morning Post
Lee excels in pithy evaluations of regional and national strengths
and weaknesses. At his best, the man is a cross between Confucius
and Machiavelli.—Aram Bakshian Jr, Washington Times
The authors, a team of eminent strategy thinkers, took the
opportunity of recording [Lee Kuan Yew's] views on the world, and
the way it's likely to take shape over the next quarter century.
The result is this concise, but important book, that looks at the
futures of China, the US and India, as well as important
contemporary issues, from globalisation and democracy to Islamic
extremism—all delivered in Lee's characteristically incisive, and
occasionally politically incorrect manner.—Anvar Alikhan,
Outlook
I found myself engrossed this week by the calm, incisive wisdom of
one of the few living statesmen in the world who can actually be
called visionary. The wisdom is in a book, Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand
Master's Insights on China, the United States and the World, a
gathering of Mr. Lee's interviews, speeches and writings…He is now
89, a great friend of America, and his comments on the U.S. are
pertinent to many of the debates in which we're enmeshed.—Peggy
Noonan, Wall Street Journal
The contribution of Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on
China, the United States, and the World to the debate about Asia's
future is unique...[It] sets down the thoughts of an 89-year-old
veteran of 20th century history with much to say about the future.
The book is densely packed with Lee's characteristically blunt
assessments of issues, countries and people. The text has been
deftly assembled and extensively footnoted.—Stephen Minas, LSE
Review of Books
[A]fter reading a good 20 pages, readers will be mesmerised by
Lee's lucidity and entertained by his acerbic tongue. After all, he
is a good critic because he is not wholly shaped by ideology, nor
does he try to be politically correct....The final chapter, 'How
Lee Kuan Yew Thinks', reveals the human side of this formidable man
and is a must-read....this book is a good read not only for
students of politics, but also for readers interested in strategic
thinking. Right-wing activists and liberal thinkers alike should
read this book because gifted authoritarian figures such as Lee are
increasingly rare.—Bangkok Post
A perceptive and concise read, detailing the wisdom of a man who
has been at the political forefront for close to 50 years.... the
book's question-and-answer format [is] an ideal one—[Lee's]
responses were mostly short, sweet and most importantly, smart....
[This book will] educate and enlighten by condensing the man's vast
intellect into accessible nuggets of information. [It] shows,
again, why he is still one of the world's most lucid
thinkers.—Prestige Magazine
The new book of interviews with Lee Kuan Yew, the former prime
minister of Singapore, by Graham Allison, Robert Blackwill, and Ali
Wyne is fantastic.—Noah Feldman, Boston Globe
[Lee Kuan Yew] may be the single best available volume for those
who want a quick grasp of Lee's thinking on foreign affairs and
geopolitics....in compiling such a rich collection of statements on
such a wide range of global issues, Allison and Blackwill have done
both scholars and general readers a service by providing a
manageable, one-stop shop on Lee's thinking.—David Plott, Global
Asia
Relations between Asian powers and the United States are constantly
shifting, so insights into how to navigate the resulting diplomatic
challenges are at a premium. Singapore's longtime prime minister,
Lee Kuan Yew, is uniquely placed to offer such insights. In this
book, he bluntly describes how he sees major players like China and
the United States interacting in the coming years and sheds light
on the intentions of each, with the purpose of informing experts
and leadership in both capitals.—Foreign Service Journal
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