"This volume studies the origins and development of Lee Kuan Yew's political thought from his childhood and schooldays onwards. Augmenting a wealth of established primary sources with his own interviews and correspondence with Lee's old associates in school, university and government, Michael Barr presents a critical examination of Lee's life, his career and his ideas. In so doing, he seeks to unravel many of the apparent contradictions and enigmas that bedevil Lee's career, and examines how Lee has been influenced by British and Chinese racism, Western progressivism, English and Chinese elitism, and even the cultural evolutionism of Arnold Toynbee. "--BOOK JACKET.