The Man Who Knew: The Life & Times of Alan Greenspan

WINNER OF THE 2016 FT & McKINSEY BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD, this is the biography of one of the titans of financial history over the last fifty years. Born in 1926, Alan Greenspan was raised in Manhattan by a single mother and immigrant grandparents during the Great Depression but by quiet force of intellect, rose to become a global financial ‘maestro’. Appointed by Ronald Reagan to Chairman of the Federal Reserve, a post he held for eighteen years, he presided over an unprecedented period of stability and low inflation, was revered by economists, adored by investors and consulted by leaders from Beijing to Frankfurt. Both data-hound and eligible society bachelor, Greenspan was a man of contradictions. His great success was to prove the very idea he, an advocate of the Gold standard, doubted: that the discretionary judgements of a money-printing central bank could stabilise an economy. He resigned in 2006, having overseen tumultuous changes in the world’s most powerful economy. Yet when the great crash happened only two years later many blamed him, even though he had warned early on of irrational exuberance in the market place. Sebastian Mallaby brilliantly shows the subtlety and complexity of Alan Greenspan’s legacy. Full of beautifully rendered high-octane political infighting, hard hitting dialogue and stories, The Man Who Knew is superbly researched, enormously gripping and the story of the making of modern finance.

About the Author :
Sebastian Mallaby is the Paul Volcker Senior Fellow in International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Washington Post columnist. He spent thirteen years on the Economist, covering international finance in London and serving as bureau chief in southern Africa, Japan and Washington. From 1999 to 2007 he was a member of the editorial board of the Washington Post, focusing on globalisation and political economy. He lives in Washington with his wife, Zanny Minton Beddoes, the economics editor of the Economist.

Review :
A fascinating and balanced study of arguably the most important figure of the post-war global finance scene A brilliant account of Alan Greenspan's journey from radical idealogue to politically adept pragmatist, and an excellent analysis of how profound changes within the financial system generated challenges to which that pragmatism was ultimately an inadequate response. A must read Despite its nearly 700 pages of text, the book is hard to put down, thanks to Mr. Mallaby’s knack for finding just the right example or sparkling quotation to illustrate his points … The Man Who Knew is a tour de force, the story not just of Alan Greenspan’s career but equally of America’s economic triumphs and failures over five decades. This carefully researched and elegantly written book will be essential reading for those who aspire to make policy and for anyone who wants to divine what drives the choices that our leaders make A major achievement; it may well be the best biography we have ever had of a central banker Alan Greenspan's story really is the story of modern finance - its brilliance but also its fatal flaws. Years of research and a keen eye for narrative detail gives Sebastian Mallaby all he needs to bring the tale to life. Alan Greenspan was a lot more than a central banker - and this book is a lot more than his biography Superb ... Sebastian Mallaby helps history make up its mind about Alan Greenspan A splendid biography - compelling, readable, provocative, richly researched, brimming with intelligence ... will surely become the definitive Greenspan biography Admire him or despise him, Alan Greenspan was the pre-eminent financial statesman of the post-war ear. But Sebastian Mallaby's magisterial biography casts him as something more (and more intriguing) than that: a masterly and mesmerising politician One of the best of the year, even from just the first pages Deeply researched and elegantly written ... Incomparable Despite its nearly 700 pages of text, the book is hard to put down, thanks to Mr. Mallaby’s knack for finding just the right example or sparkling quotation to illustrate his points … The Man Who Knew is a tour de force, the story not just of Alan Greenspan’s career but equally of America’s economic triumphs and failures over five decades. This carefully researched and elegantly written book will be essential reading for those who aspire to make policy and for anyone who wants to divine what drives the choices that our leaders make Mallaby’s book is part biography, part political history and part inquest Meticulously researched Colourful and exhaustive An impressive work of scholarship … A masterpiece of political economy and, above all, it’s a great and enjoyable read ‘An engaging, sympathetic yet unsparing portrait’ ‘The best biography of 2016’