This companion volume to the popular Discovery Channel documentary charts the unpromising start of Singapore from the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles to the present day.It tells the story of Singapore's birth and growing pains through to the high noon of Empire. The remarkable twists of fate that turned Singapore into an "Accidental Nation" after its separation from Malaya, and the eventual formation of an independent government and nation. The challenge for Singapore as it moves from youth to middle age is to be a nation that can draw on its past as an inspiration for its future.