And history shows, they don't always answer to the very Presidents who have chosen them. Their public appearances are always shrouded in central bank inscrutability, their utterances limited to carefully measured economic jargon. If information about their policy decisions is carefully controlled, details about their personal lives are almost entirely absent from the public radar. The lives behind their economic existence are considered too dull to generate much public interest. Fed Chairmen don't appear on The Late Show with David Letterman .
Nobody gossips about their love lives or their hobbies.
So it comes as a surprise in Justin Martin's new biography of Alan Greenspan, due out in November, that even if he hadn't become Fed Chairman, Greenspan has had a fascinating life, well worth the effort of a biography. Martin paints a masterful portrait of a strangely nerdy character with a burning ambition that he has applied to both his career and his social life. And as I read the book, I realized that despite the power central bankers wield over the lives of the American public, they aren't held to the same standards of behavior as elected officials. I would have been satisfied to learn more about Greenspan, but gaining additional insights from a biography that' s both a fun read and loaded with historical context makes the book a home run as far as I'm concerned. Martin's achievement is even more impressive when you consider that Martin chose a subject who has already been written about extensively.