"By studying the speeches made by Singapore politicians – and sometimes filling them in with archives from other countries – Ang argues that Singapore’s approach has been remarkably consistent since its independence in 1965. . . . [the book's] value lies in expanding the range of international grand strategy case studies in academia and policy studies to include smaller states."

The Straits Times

"Singapore’s Grand Strategy makes the case for what the outlines of a 'distant star' might look like for Singapore, looking at principles which it contends have been remarkably consistent since independence. Unlike some accounts that focus singularly on the role of Lee Kuan Yew, the book acknowledges the reality that Singapore’s founding father also had capable figures around him which helped shape the country’s grand strategy as well, such as Goh Keng Swee and S. Rajaratnam. It also usefully situates the argument within the global scholarship on grand strategy, which has been written about by scholars such as Hal Brands, John Lewis Gaddis, William Martel and Nina Silove. This makes it a useful addition to the few books written on Singapore’s external relations to date, including those focused on foreign policy (like Bilveer Singh’s The Vulnerability of Small States Revisited or Michael Leifer’s Coping with Vulnerability) and defense policy (such as Tim Huxley’s Defending the Lion City)."

ASEAN Wonk

“It is rare for a historian to be so well-versed in Singapore’s strategic statecraft, a subject commonly tackled by International Relations (IR) scholars. Cheng Guan’s book offers an engaging introduction that masterfully unpacks the concept of grand strategy which is notorious for its theoretical fuzziness… Singapore’s Grand Strategy is an excellent addition to the study of Southeast Asian diplomatic history and the first scholarly attempt at an account of Singapore’s grand strategy, something which readers interested in Southeast Asian politics will benefit from greatly.”

Cambridge Review of International Affairs

“. . .we have to be grateful to Ang for this study which is grounded on archived documents and provides the evidence for others to mine for more theoretical analyses of Singapore's grand strategy.”

Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (JMBRAS)

“Ang Cheng Ang’s Singapore’s Grand Strategy is an engaging, expansive, and empirically rich book detailing the contours of Singaporean foreign and defense policy from its founding to the present…. Indeed, this [is a] rich and compelling book with much to offer a wide range of readers. It offers a sweeping and detailed account of Singapore’s security and defense policy from its founding to the present. Its exploration of the tensions and dynamics as this small state pursues [sp.] its calibrated strategy in the face of independence, great power competition, emergent regionalism, and an increasingly globalized world will appeal to readers interested in Singapore and the region and those with broader interests in international politics.”

H-Diplo