[.ca] Paul Volcker: The Making of a Financial Legend (ISBN 0471735868)

Paul Volker - an outstanding public servant:
A big abrazo for Joe Treaster for his wonderful biograph of Paul Volker. He very skillfully brought out the real character of a talented and consciencious individual who dedicated his life to serve the public's interest. Treaster carefully describes what it takes to run this country's financial institutions and, in laymen's language, explains how easily it is to slap our leaders on the wrist, if not the behind, when they don't adhere to good fiscal policies. The book is interesting and thought provoking. You become an admirer of Paul Volker.

Lessons to learn...:
This cleverly-constructed biography not only reminds us of Paul Volcker's tough-minded role in taming inflation in the perilous economy of the '80s into the '90s, but it provide potent insights into his personal life--elements that laid the foundation for the clear thinking, determination and honesty that the American economy still benefits from today. Volcker's city manager/father passed to his son a belief in the worthiness of public service and the need for absolute integrity and perception of integrity. Volcker's public service meant sacrifice for him and his family. This is not a thick volume (244 pages), but it leaves the reader very satisified that he or she has a clear understanding of what drives Volcker, of the politics that brought him to office and then challenged him, of who he is today. It's no wonder the United Nations has turned to him to help investigate its oil-for-food program in pre-war Iraq. The fact that so many "heavyweights" (people like David Rockefeller, Marshall Loeb, Bill Bradley, Ed Koch, etc.) were willing to write pre-publication blurbs that spill off the dustcover into the book itself, and that Arthur Levitt wrote the foreword, reflects the respect they have not just for Volcker but for author Joseph Treaster, a business writer for The New York Times. This book is very readable, well-sourced and documented, and has some delicious photos. As the nation faces the prospect of renewed inflation today, our leaders would do well to read this book and learn its lessons. So would our nation's citizens.

LUCID BIOGRAPHY HUMANIZES HISTORY:
Joseph Treaster's lucid, entertaining account of the life and legacy of Paul Volcker reminds you that some people still value-and embody-such virtues as integrity, modesty, steadiness, and public service. I lived through much of the economic history covered in this book but never understood why things happened as they did, or realized how much Volcker's actions in the early 1980's set our nation's financial course for the following fifteen years. Treaster brings an oversized, almost Victorian personality vividly to life, and in the process casts a startling light on our government's current fiscal policies.

Excellent biography of the man who tamed runaway inflation:
Treaster has produced a biography that both pictures the human side of Volcker as well as explains the achievements of a man who gave the nation some very painful medicine that paved the way for decades of prosperity. The book is exhaustively researched, well written and of a manageable length, explaining difficult financial concepts in words understandable to the layman. To say, as does another reviewer, that inflation was the friend of the middle class because of rising home values is preposterous. During the inflationary years, people's standard of living declined as their salary increases could not keep up with price increases, and home ownership became unaffordable for those who didn't already own one with old mortgages at fixed low rates. Volcker took the heat, and Greenspan took the adulation.

Book Review:
I've just finished reading Joseph Treaster's excellent book on Paul Volcker. He has done a superior job of humanizing a stoic economist! I particularly liked the inclusion of his growing up years to show that influence in his decisions later in his career. It is a very readable book for the general public; I thought there was just enough economic theory in it to make Volcker a man of principles, personal and professional. And, I am very glad that I have an autographed copy.