There are three themes to Mr Lee's book. First, the manner in which his early life -- as the scion of a privileged family, as a blackmarketeer during the Japanese occupation and as a student in England -- influenced his thinking as a nation's leader.

Second, his struggle for power in a society that viewed him as an outsider and third, his efforts towards a united Malaysia that included Singapore and the pragmatism that forced him to pull Singapore out.

There are lessons here for third-world politicians as Mr Lee explains why he chose the path that Singapore finally took.

Mr Lee writes: "One person who made an impact on me in my first term at the London School of Economics was Harold Laski, a professor of political science. His Marxist socialist theories had a profound influence on many colonial students, quite a few of whom were to achieve power and run their underdeveloped economies aground by ineptly implementing policies based on what they thought Laski taught.

"It was my good fortune that I had several of these failed economies to warn me of this danger before I was in a position to do any harm in government...I thought then that wealth depended mainly on the possession of territory and natural resources, whether fertile land with abundant rainfall for agriculture or forestry, or valuable minerals, or oil and gas.

"It was only after I had been in office for some years that I recognised that performance varied substantially between the different races in Singapore and among different categories within the same race. After trying out a number of ways to reduce inequalities and failing, I was gradually forced to conclude that the decisive factors were the people, their natural abilities, education and training. Knowledge and the possession of technology were vital for the creation of wealth."

Mr Lee explains why he first sought the support of Communists and then spurned them so violently. The book will doubtless answer many old-time Singaporeans who saw ruthlessness and opportunism in Mr Lee's treatment of the Communists and made these traits the benchmark against which they viewed many of his subsequent actions.

Mr Lee suggests his flirtations with the Communists were necessary and never welcome. He explains: "I agreed with the Marxists that man did exploit his fellow men through his possession of greater capital or power, and that because a man's output was more than he needed to consume to stay alive, there was a surplus for the employer or landlord to cream off. My aversion to the Communists sprang from their Leninist methods, not their Marxist ideals."

The narrative ends with the birth of Singapore. But Mr Lee promises that his "next book will describe the long, hard climb over the next 25 years from poverty to prosperity".

So far, he has described how he survived, and triumphed, within the framework of a Western-style democracy. It was later that Singapore became a society less tolerant of dissent, when its democracy followed rules that brought about frequent skirmishes with liberal thinkers. Mr Lee has always maintained that the Asian context calls for drastic changes to the Western model. Doubtless, he will explain why these changes were necessary for Singapore's growth. It is then that a fuller analysis of Mr Lee's life and methods will become possible.