Forty Good Men is the story of the Tanglin Club, originally established as a social institute for select Britishers in 1865 in the island of Singapore, an equatorial corner of Britain\'s colonial empire in the Far East.

Drawing on wide-ranging first-hand accounts and historical commentaries, it also provides an informative glimpse of the mores and historical fortunes of the colonial elite who traditionally comprised the Membership of the Club and their role in the development and destiny of the island.

Extensively illustrated and documented with photographs and memorabilia, letters and diaries, chronicles and historical records gathered from archival and personal collections around the world, the story follows the evolution and persistence of the Tanglin Club from the early colonial period, through the uncertainties of two world wars and the turbulent pre and post-independence periods, to its successful transformation in the years after independence in 1965, which have enabled it to survive as one of the most prestigious social clubs in the city-state of Singapore.