IT COVERS the 1965 separation of Singapore from Malaysia and the 1987 death of stripper Rose Chan.

A new book, Chronicle Of Singapore, tells the history of the country as it was reported in newspapers in the 50 years from 1959.

The 382-page tome was created after sifting through about 10,000 reports from the Singapore Press Holdings archive and will be out in bookstores this Friday. It costs $59.90 and comes with a DVD of rare film and news footage, including Mr Lee Kuan Yew's emotional speech as Singapore gained independence.

The book, published by Editions Didier Millet, features more than 2,000 stories on topics from politics to sports, arranged chronologically and presented in newspaper style.

Mr Peter Lim, 71, who headed the team behind Chronicle and who is the former editor-in-chief of The Straits Times Press, said: 'It is not a history book in the conventional sense. Histories are notoriously subjective, depending on who they are written and commissioned by. We claim that this is objective, as objective as the newspapers that reported the events first.'

The reports in the book present a slice of life as well as history, starting with British royal Prince Philip's visit here in 1959 and ending with the attack on Mr Seng Han Thong, MP for Yio Chu Kang, in January this year.

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times

akshitan@sph.com.sg