More profoundly, Greenspan is a maestro, a conductor, exquisitely attuned to every instrument in the political and economic orchestra. He rules by consensus, but with a firm hand and notoriously inscrutable words. Marvelously, Woodward relates that Greenspan had to propose twice to his wife, the violinist-turned-TV news star Andrea Mitchell, before she understood: "His verbal obscurity and caution were so ingrained that Mitchell didn't even know that he had asked her to marry him." Woodward gives us the inside story of what Greenspan really thinks and how he outmaneuvered the most ruthless politicians on earth in some of the hairiest times imaginable, from the 1987 stock market crash to the 1994-95 Mexican crisis to the stomach-churning turn of the century. It turns out that for all his awesome knowledge of monetary minutiae, the Fed chief literally relies on "a pain in the pit of my stomach" to make decisions. "At times, he found his body sensed danger before his head," writes Woodward. The Fed chief also adapts Einstein's technique to economics, hunting for discrepancies as keys to deeper theories. Einstein made breakthroughs out of bent light; Greenspan deduced productivity gains that government statisticians had overlooked for years. (The gains appeared when Greenspan made the statisticians calculate productivity by business sector, the way it's done in the real world.)

Woodward's prose is cool and rational, not exuberant. But if you're into economics and politics, you'll find a rich gossip trove here. Who knew Reagan had a draft of a presidential order to shut down Wall Street trading at hand in 1987? Scary! Reading Maestro is better than sitting with Greenspan in his famous tub as he charts your future--it's like being right there inside his head. --Tim Appelo

-- Bob Schieffer, CBS News Face the Nation

<br /><br />"Scrupulous and illuminating...Woodward lucidly explains the axes of intellectual and political disagreement over monetary policy...shedding new light on major conflicts of the Greenspan era."

-- The New York Times Book Review

<br /><br />"A gripping ride through the oddly fragile and insecure world of big money and the curious mind of Greenspan."

-- San Francisco Chronicle

<br /><br />"Fascinating, intimate...the best inside job on the subject yet to appear."

-- The Dallas Morning News

<br /><br />"Admirably accomplishes what it sets out to do: demystify a Washington institution that is dimly understood by most Americans."

-- USA Today

<br /><br />"Replete with the sort of fly-on-the-wall reporting for which Woodward is famous. What comes across most clearly is Greenspan's skill at the political power games that determine who survives in the cutthroat world of Washington."

--BusinessWeek