Dr Mahathir Mohamad governed Malaysia for 22 years (1981–2003), during which he wrote and received many letters from world leaders. The seventy-one letters presented in this volume—by Dr Mahathir, Tony Blair, Prince Charles, Margaret Thatcher, George W. Bush and Jacques Chirac, among others—argue the contrasting positions on terrorism, globalisation, economic and diplomatic relations, as well as wars and conflicts. Dr Mahathir writes directly, in his own distinctive voice and style. The correspondents were transparent, solid, informative, and sometimes robust.

Edited and compiled by Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad, an MCKK-, Cambridge- and Harvard-educated writer, public intellectual and the founding Chairman of Institut Kajian Politik dan Ekonomi (IKAPE). He was Special Envoy to the United Nations (UN) between 1996 and 2000, and Editor-in-Chief of the New Straits Times for several years