Rating: 
Summary: Far From His Best
Review: Ok, I admit it; I am a big fan of Woodward. I will read everything he puts out and probably enjoy it. With that being said, I was not excited to read this book. I am not all that interested in the workings of the Fed and Greenspan has never stuck me as a very interesting character, but given that it was a Woodward book I gave it a shot. So my verdict is that I was glad the book was just a bit over 200 pages in length. Woodward covers all the "interesting" issues that faced Greenspan, the 87 crash, the Clinton budget plan, the Mexican crisis, the South Korean problem and the collapse of the hedge fund LTCM. The problem I had was that they were not written well enough to make a non-fed watcher really that excited. I also thought that the book was only skimming the surface, I wanted a bit more back ground on the issues and effects to the world. If you have read some of the other books by Woodward on Clinton then you also see some repeated information here, which added to my overall blah feeling about the book. For my money Woodward is the best political writer in the business today. He has so many contacts that many times in reading the book you could swear he has the offices bugged of the subjects the book is focusing on. That is why I was disappointed with this book. You get all the standard Woodward items with the book, great details, wonderful he said - she said conversations that really make you feel like a fly on the wall, an easy to follow and well laid out book. Unfortunately, he still has some hang up with footnotes, I think the use of them would only enhance the books, but he is the author. In my opinion this is a marginally interesting book that I was glad was only 200 + pages long. If you like Woodward you will like this book enough to finish it, but will probably walk away disappointed. If you are interested in the Fed then I would assume this is a first step and will come away looking for more details. Overall I am hoping the next Woodward book makes this disappointment fade from memory.
Rating: 
Summary: The Little Engine that Couldn't
Review: I'm not really sure why Woodward chose Greenspan as a subject in the first place. He doesn't come across as an exceptionally interesting guy...in fact, Woodward doesn't give Greenspan much characterization. He's just a very intelligent number-cruncher who decides to raise or lower interest rates. A few pages of the book perked my attention, but I fell asleep during much of it. There is also just a bit too much Alan-worshipping for my taste. As much as Woodward tries to argue that Greenspan does not act with hidden intentions and tries his best to persuade the members of the FOMC before making his rate changes, he makes a few too many unilateral decisions to ignore. Woodward acts as if Greenspan is always above politics and is uncannily unbiased. It seems as if Woodward owed Greenspan a favor. Or maybe he had to complete a book deal and thought, this'll do. It must be a bestseller only because it was written by Bob Woodward. I should probably mention here that economics have never interested me, and most of the concepts are beyond my understanding. Yet as a biography alone, it is bland. Unless you are acutely interested in every rate change in the last 14 years, read the title and move on.
Rating: 
Summary: Not big enough for a doorstop.
Review: ...It's actually cheaper to throw this book away than to resell it. This is an "Emperor's New Clothes" book, where no one's pointing out the obvious nakedness of the emperor but are in fact hyping those snazzy threads.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book with some small limitations...
Review: This book gives a view of monetary policy and financial regulation from Greenspan's perspective as close as is physically possible without employing the chairman himself as author. The biography seeks to reveal how Greenspan and the Fed operate. The author views the Federal Reserve as a very important American economic institution and Greenspan as a one of a kind Chairman of the Board of Governors. I think the author recognizes that sometimes Americans and foreigners give Greenspan too much credit for the economy. He breaks down this social phenomenon for the readers in the epilogue. "The fascination with Greenspan has become one of the ways which the country expresses confidence in itself and in its future" (228). The reader gets to listen to the Fed's internal debates and learns about Greenspan's life. The book explores how the Fed controls monetary policy and details the actions of the Fed in the Greenspan era, 1987 to 2000. The book also touches on several financial crises of the Greenspan era including: the 1987 stock market crash, the S&L crisis, the commercial banks' loan problems in the early 1990's stemming from real estate and Latin America, the Mexican Crisis, Russia currency devaluation, Long Term Capital Management (LTCM) and the stock market "bubble." These events are only briefly addressed, with the focus being how they relate to the Chairman of the Board of Governors, Alan Greenspan. The book briefly addresses current economic debates. The author was particularly interested in the high growth, record employment, low inflation and high stock market in the late 1990's that seems to defy economic theory. The book explores some academic debates, but overall the book is not an academic work. The author does not point this out, but it is clear from the author's background in journalism and the structure of the book. The backbone of the book, its pacing, come from headlines from The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. The headlines act as sign posts of the political and stock market perception of the FOMC's stance and future actions. In regard to references, while there are "notes" in the back of the book that give further detail and some sources, other sources are not revealed. For example, in the prologue four primary sources go unnamed. While this may allow greater access for the reader, it limited my ability to appreciate the book. It is very odd how some dialogues between prominent figures are not in quotes. What is the source for this information? Is it made up dialogue? In another case, after the Sept. 4, 1987 increase of interest rates by 1/2 to 6%, the author has a long paragraph of how Greenspan felt. Woodward describes Greenspan's emotional state, "he felt almost as if an earthquake were occurring and the building were rattling" (33). Firstly, how does Woodward know how Greenspan was feeling. Even if Woodward has some special source, statements like this make me uncomfortable. Readers should be aware of this, but it should be noted that Bob Woodward's reputation is top notch, and he is known for his investigative Washington reporting. Bob Woodward is best known for breaking the Watergate story. Woodward is assistant managing editor of The Washington Post and has been a newspaper reporter and editor for thirty years. While lack of sources and unquoted dialogue are distracting and hurt the book, Woodward gives amazing descriptions of Greenspan that seem cut straight to the essence of his persona. "Greenspan radiated gloom. He spoke in a gravelly monotone, often cloaking his thoughts in indirect constructions... It was almost as if his words were scouting parties, sent out less to convey than to probe and explore" (30). I would highly recommend this book. The behind-the-scenes descriptions of the 1987 stock market crash are worth the price of the book. Like the rest of the book, the writing gives the feeling of actually being there and the debate lets readers know the importance of the decisions being made. Greenspan once said, "If you're not nervous, you shouldn't be here" (Greenspan qtd in Woodward).
Rating:
Summary: On the Money!
Review: Maestro is a nice, short book that is already out of date. It is as much about the Clinton-era economic boom as it is about Alan Greenspan. It ends by asking how long the boom can go. Bob Woodward has written three books, which prominently highlight aspects of the Clinton era ' The Agenda, Shadow and Maestro. Maestro is the only one in which Clinton and his team look good ' really good. The approach to the economy, especially their cutting of the deficit, balancing of the budget and internationalist approach, both contributed to the boom and gave the Fed room to further sustain the boom. The Reagan and Bush administrations are portrayed as too political in their decision making, while the Clinton-Greenspan partnership is portrayed as the model. Sadly, this model and the technical aspects of managing the government did not and don't get the attention that things like sex scandals do. Maestro helped me better appreciate Greenspan, but also better appreciate what we had with the Clinton administration. By comparison, the present Bush administration with its excessive tax cuts and deficit spending seems very scary. My one major criticism of Maestro goes back to it being already out of date. Little space is devoted to explaining the structure of the Fed, what exactly it does, or even what Greenspan does on a day to day basis. In a way, it is like a very long newspaper or magazine article more than it is a book. But it is enjoyable and useful, at least for the moment.
Rating:
Summary: We though we knew what money was
Review: This is a book which seeks to capitalize on the superstardom of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. When the book came out Greenspan was the economic hero and genius who, seemingly, presided over, or even engineered the greatest economic expansion is human history. Hence, a book about his day to day trials and tribulations seemed like a natural bestseller.
But, sadly, the book completely misses the key and critical facts about the supremely important Federal reserve system. So what is the point in reading it? Instead it is devoted to a minute by minute partial description of Greenspan's daily job related concerns while completely missing the larger context of the hugely important and controversial Federal Reserve.
Greesnspan's work life is portrayed as a tense nail biting quest to divine the level of economic activity, so he can either increase or inflate the money supply to stimulate sluggish economic activity or to decrease or deflate the money supply to slow down too rapid economic activity. All of this goes on under intense pressure from politicians who generally pressure him to make more money regardless in the future inflation it will cause so the economy will look vigorous and healthy while they are in office or about to run for reelection.
Some absolutely essential truths that are ignored are as follows:
1) Federal banks have been the scourge of civilization (even to the point of leading to Nazi Germany) because they generally have printed money for themselves in order to steal it, or in the false belief that printing money for general distribution would make average people more wealthy and help an economy grow. In truth, printing money just drives up prices (inflation) but as no long term effect on economic activity, wealth, or output.
2) Greenspan is an ardent Republican who therefore accepts the idea that merely printing money is senseless and destructive. In fact he has been so scared of Federal banks falling into Democratic hands that he has supported eliminating them in favor of a gold standard because, then, corrupt or stupid gov't officials couldn't make more gold. This is perhaps the single most important step any country can take to free itself from corrupt or stupid gov't. 3) Democrats don't accept basic truths about money. They like to print it because: a) it is easier to get it that way, rather than through oppressive taxation, and b) they are so addicted to gov't power they can't resist the notion of printing money and stealing it or printing it and spending it on their subjects in a totally false act of gov't largess.
For a specific education about these issues in purely economic terms the master is Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman. For a specific look at how Democrats and Republicans divide on most issues (including money), despite the media's attempts to cover the differences up, I recommend the classic, Understanding The Difference Between Democrats And Republicans.
Rating:
Summary: The Rating Game
Review: With the same dogged thoroughness he used to blow the Watergate conspiracy wide open, Bob Woodward debunks the inner workings both of the mind of Alan Greenspan and of the labyrinthine workings of the institution he's come to embody. Over the past fifteen years the management of monetary policy has emerged from the shadows of secrecy to become a spectator sport in America. In "Maestro" Woodward brings us through this process step by step, all the while painting a many-shaded portrait of the man who brought it all about. Greenspan emerges in this chronicle as a benign dictator disguised as a skilled concensus builder. Supremely confident in his interpretation of economic events, from the inception of his tenure he handled the Board of Governors with deft political skills, listening to everyone while pushing his agenda forward with ruthless determination. Assuming the post right before the stock market crash of 1987, he has pushed a consistent policy of fighting inflation and pounding the table for debt reduction. The most fascinating and confounding part of his job, figuring out how productivity gains have altered received wisdom on inflation and employment, remains the key to his legacy today. Woodward provides a great rundown of how politics rule in this quintessentially "apolitical" institution. Greenspan's relationships with Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton twist and turn with the political exigencies of the time--elections, wars, scandals. It's ironic that Clinton emerges as his hands-down favorite, given his understanding of the role of debt reduction in lowering long-term interest rates. Greenspan, a long-time Ayn Randian libertarian with a Republican affiliation, never felt that the Republican incumbents had any intuitive grasp of what mattered economically for the country beyond election time. Anyone who thinks they knew a lot about the Greenspan years will know better after they read this book. The story continues, with an afterword in the paperback edition about the present recession and war on terrorism. Greenspan seems far from finished with his mission, so perhaps Woodward will owe him a sequel in a few years.
Rating: 
Summary: Insight into the Fed
Review: Easy read, and an economics degree is not required. The most fascinating part of Woodward's book is his description of the Fed's action during the "crash" of 1987. Opend my eyes as to how fragile our way of life really is. I highly recommend!!
Rating:
Summary: Maestro, Good Title
Review: MAESTRO By Bob Woodward
I read this book the first time in 2000 or early 2001 and like it. I went back and looked this book over in August of 2001 based on what the market has done in the last year. I like Greenspan and what he has done to bring the market down to a "soft landing", although a lot of people out there won't agree with me about the soft landing. Incidentally, I like Bob Woodward's style of writing-he is good.
I believe the people should have paid more attention to Greenspan in 1996 he said the said that they were being "irrational exuberance" about the stock market. That's the other side of the coin from "irrational" fear which some people are getting a dose of now. Anyway, this book is good--Greenspan is a true Maestro with a computer in economics. Than God he has a computer, it speeds up his calculations by nearly an infinite amount! I believe he is doing what he wanted to do, bring the stock market down to soft landing. There were billions of dollars that had to disappear to bring the market down to a reasonable figure after years of "irrational exuberance" by the whole world. There is one thing I do not believe that I saw in any book, the much lower price per share adjustment brought about by a company's programming earning down for the amount of goods sold as the company's income decreased. You see in many books the P/E (Price to Earnings Ratio) for a "bull" market and the P/E for a "bear" market, but you do not see the distortion brought about in these figures by how many good they didn't sell or how much service they didn't sell? In other words there is a big change to their bottom and top P/E that you have to factor in before you these statistics. Sounds simple-it isn't.
I would suggest the less complex book, Riding the Bear by Sy Harding to enhance your enjoyment of Bob Woodward book Maestro. When you throw politics into the mess you can really got confused. Wait until 7x year-old Greenspan retires!
Happy days,
Roger Lee
Rating:
Summary: Generally enjoyable
Review: A gift from friends, I greatly enjoyed this title. It isn't perfect, by any means, but is deserving of praise as well as criticism. Despite being occasionally obsequious and overly-flattering towards the object of his writing, Woodward does a good job of presenting Greenspan as human: at times honorable and at others manipulative. Examples: I really appreciated the awkwardness that Greenspan encounters when proposing to Andrea Mitchell; on the other hand, Greenspan appeared to be a calculating villain during the affair with vice chairman Mullins. Woodward does a good job of re-creating the frenetic moods of the global economic near-meltdowns, but it tended to get old. Better still is Greenspan's sense of unease about the "soft landings" (the last of which turn really hard, really quick). My biggest problem with the book is that, towards the end, there were quite a few typographical errors, and sentences seemed to occasionally stop in mid-thought. In sum, this is a work of tribute to Alan Greenspan, perhaps deservedly, but it is lackluster in certain areas. However, Woodward succeeds in making it interesting to get an inside look at a man who is so outwardly boring.
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