A toothy, translucent triangle

Although the book appears to have the episodic format of a novel at times, there's nothing fictional about its subject. The author weaves through plot, and sub-plot, up one cul de sac after another until the hero finally emerges cut off, as it were, from the ebb and flow of ideology. George holds back little, and his questions are to the point. 'Is what is known and cherished about Lee in the West seen in the perspective of present conditions in Singapore and of the geopolitical realities of South East Asia as a whole? Are Lee's obvious achievements their own complete justification or are there features in them which raise doubts about their ultimate worth? Is the political philosophy on which Lee has built tenable? What are the ultimate values he holds up for his people and what are their long term implications?

Can you judge a man by his friends? Norman Kirk and his mate Lee Kuan Yew.

Lee emerges from the pages of the book as an arrogant, charismatic, puritanical and omnipresent figure. George's judgements on Lee the Man are very illuminating except perhaps to the eyes of his idolators, and are as exact as they are concise. As George puts it, 'when relaxed Lee is handsome.' When 'lighting-up time comes, and when he smiles, he transforms his forbidding countenance into a toothy, translucent triangle of charm under a canopy of dancing eyebrows.' The author cites several opinions of Lee. In one instance Prof. N. Parkinson, then lecturing at the University of Singapore wrote of Lee:

"Utterly without charm, his expression is one of barely concealed contempt for his opponents, for his followers, perhaps for himself—one cannot imagine that he is even capable of friendship.