Singapore: A Biography – Mark R. Frost and Yu-Mei Balasingamchow

The cityscape of modern Singapore is in a constant flux, all in the name of development and progress. A sense of the physical past is consequently imited.

This new work, based on research done in collaboration with curators of the National Museum, seeks to invigorate links to Singapore’s past by weaving a cohesive narrative out of fragments of eyewitness accounts, correspondences and descriptions.

Taking readers through the earliest Ming dynasty Chinese accounts of the island, the founding of modern Singapore, its growth as an emporium and port city, the Japanese occupation, and finally self-determination and independence, this book lets the experiences of historical individuals speak to a modern audience, allowing them to reconnect with and find meaning in the past.