Living the Asian Century

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

Growing up in poverty in the 1950s, Kishore Mahbubani expected to become a common textile salesman after finishing high school. Instead, a government scholarship sent him to the University of Singapore, and four years later he found himself in the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Meanwhile, almost none of Mahbubani's cousins, scattered around the world after India's brutal partition, from Guyana to Hong Kong, would complete university.

During this same period, Singapore itself was undergoing a metamorphosis. Granted internal self-governance in 1959 and achieving full independence six years later, the country came of age alongside Mahbubani. And as his star rose, so did the nation's.

In Living the Asian Century, 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, from Cambodia to Australia, Malaysia to the United States and the UN-including the pinnacle of influence, the Security Council.

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.

"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
"This is an inspiring story, beautifully-written, that I just could not put down. A must-read."--Indra Nooyi
"A public intellectual of coruscating intelligence and insight, who has carved a niche for himself in the world of geopolitical ideas."--Shashi Tharoor
"Apart from Lee Kuan Yew, no other Singaporean has achieved a wider reach through his writings and speeches."--George Yeo
"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
"This is a story of fierce survival and grit on borrowed optimism."--Chan Heng Chee
"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
"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

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

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