The Man Who Knew

An impressive achievement and an important piece of scholarship that both deserves and rewards the careful reader... A brilliant rendering of key moments in recent economic and financial history that provides the context needed to appreciate Greenspan's extraordinary mixed legacy. - Peter Fisher, International Finance Highly recommended.... anyone with an interest in postwar U.S. economic and political history will enjoy The Man Who Knew. -Ben Bernanke While Greenspan was (and is) a more capable economist than he gets credit for these days, he was an even better politician....This view of Greenspan as a political animal is central to Mallaby's account. It is also, along with the often amusing depictions of Greenspan's personal life, what makes it so much fun to read..... [An] excellent biography.- New York Times Book Review Mallaby's masterful biography-which doubles as an excellent economic history of the past three decades-tells a story of Greenspan's technocratic ascent, from his modest boyhood in New York City, to a young adulthood colored by his philosophical attraction to the antigovernment libertarianism of the novelist Ayn Rand, to his career as a high-flying economic consultant, and finally to his rise to the pinnacle of power at the Fed.- Foreign Affairs A rock-star central banker emerges in all his contradictions in Sebastian Mallaby's fine biography....Deeply researched and elegantly written .... [An] exceptional new biography - Financial Times A tour de force - the most deeply reported work on the dry art of central banking since William Greider's Secrets of the Temple (1988). But Greider's work was flawed because he pushed his reporting through a meat grinder of questionable economic theories. Mallaby avoids that pitfall. Much like the man he profiles, Mallaby shows a solid understanding of competing economic - and political - theories, without tying himself inextricably to any one.- The Washington Post 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. -The Wall Street Journal In a superb new book, the product of more than five years' research, Sebastian Mallaby helps history make up its mind about Alan Greenspan, the man hailed in 2000 by Phil Gramm, a former senator, as 'the best central banker we have ever had,' but now blamed for the financial crisis of 2007-08. -The Economist Exceptional... Deeply researched and elegantly written... As a description of the politics and pressures under which modern independent central banking has to operate, the book is incomparable. -Financial Times Mallaby pulls back the curtain on the controversial Fed chairman...and takes a fresh look at his record. -Esquire Economics is dubbed the dreary science, but as this comprehensive and absorbing biography reveals, economists can certainly enjoy lively and interesting lives.... Mallaby strives to fairly consider Greenspan's successes and failures in this balanced account....A portrait of a many-faceted and brilliant man far more appealing than the stolid technocrat who appeared before Congress and the public during his long tenure (1987-2006) as chairmanof the Federal Reserve.-Booklist Thorough, balanced, and well informed...A masterful, detailed portrait of one of the leading economic figures of our time.-Publishers Weekly The astonishing story of how a solitary young man, who found solace in numbers, became the world's most powerful economic decision-maker, presiding over the revolution in finance that touches everyone. With judgment and authority, The Man Who Knew takes us inside the great economic crises of our times-- and provides insight for the crises and turmoil