Maestro is a work by veteran reporter Bob Woodward about Alan Greenspan. The book does not read much like a biography, and is more a book about the Fed's policies than about Greenspan as a person, but it does include some interesting insights into the character of the man who has come to epitomize America's economy.
The book, at 230 pages, manages to encapsulate most of the economics changes since Greenspan was appointed during the Reagan Administration, including a stock market crash, the 1991 recession, and the Asian market collapse of 1997. In this, it also includes the personal and professional relationships that Greenspan had with three different presidents and their administrations. The books narrative ends midway through 2000, and thus doesn't include the recent national and economic troubles the United States has seen.
What fascinated me about the book the most is how Greenspan chose to deal with a wide variety of situations, such as recessions, inflation, the Long Term Capital Management fiasco, stock bubbles, and many others, using only four tools: raising or decreasing interest rates 1\4 or a 1\2 of a point. Using only those tools and his ability to change the stock market using a phrase such as irrational exuberance, Greenspan has managed to keep the economy more or less under control for well over a decade now.
Woodward's reporting, as usual, is excellent, and he makes the seemingly dull world of meetings and conference calls move like a war novel.