From Third World to First: The Singapore Story, Lee Kuan Yew- Amazing stuff. If you want to understand the success of Singapore and the East Asian democracy model, this book is a must. In 763 pages of his carefully drafted memoir, lee talks about almost everything- from Singapore's forced independence to Singapore becoming a major economic power in Asia. Democracy, culture, foreign policy, PAP politics, Malay-Chinese clashes in the new city state and much much more. If you are interested in leadership or Eeast-South-East Asian history, you can't miss reading this one. My Life, Bill Clinton- not entirely 957 pages of lies as some critics tell it to be. If you skip all those "how my dad met my mom" parts and focus on Clinton's election campaigns and his meetings with various world leaders, this book is quite inetresting. the best part was when he regrets about being "unable" to prevent the Rwandan genocide. Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, Herbert Bix: So who is to be blamed for the Rape of Nanking and various other Japanese war crimes in Asia during the second world war? Is it the military clique that too over politics or the descendant of Amaterasu Omikami, i.e, the Emperor himself? A fascinating political biography of Hirohito in 688 pages. A Pulitzer Prize winner. Khrushchev: The Man and Era, William Taubman: So how did Khurschev, a nowhere man from Kalinovka, a small village in the middle of nowhere in the present day Ukraine became the most influential politican of the Great Soviet Empire? The book also explains his attachment with Stalin, and his later denounciation of the Great Leader. If you are interested in learning all about Khurschev, from his feet stumping episode to meeting with Nehru, from the Peaceful Co-existence to skirmishes with China, this is quite an interesting book. Taubman didn't with Pulitzer for nothing. In Retrospect, Robert McNamara: Was Vietnam war a mistake? Yes. But this coming from the former secretary of defense, is quite shocking indeed. Although McNamara's book dfidn't get good reviews when it came out in 1996, I found it really fascinating when I read it this summer. He admits that he and his collegues made mistakes and those mistakes costed many men their lives. The highlight of this book is his 11 points at the end of the book. Its worth reading, if you are into history. World on Fire, Amy Chua: Does democracy work everyhwere? This is a very hard question to answer. There's no doubt that democracy is the best system but how do we make it work everywhere as smoothly as it works in America and the western Europe? This is not a very easy question to answer. Before we understand the ways to make democracy work, we have to understand the problems. Amy Chua, a Prof at Yale highlights the problems that many countries in the world face now- poverty, ethnic hatred etc. A very "interesting" book if you are like me who believes that democracy alone cannot solve all problems any given country is facing. " and I thought school would be interesting!!!!" :-(