As Lee states in his preface, these memoirs do not constitute a formal study of history. They are, however, a first-hand source. Unlike a scholarly tome, they ripple with the surging passions of a time still remembered, and still connected to the present. Indeed, the publication of these memoirs is itself another chapter in an ongoing saga.
無論如何，李光耀回憶錄就如其前言所敘，並非正式的歷史，但無疑是第一手的歷史佐證，它甚至比歷史還要鮮活，充滿著整個時代的起伏情緒，以致於這樣的情緒聯繫上了今天的環境，即註定會繼續澎湃著。