If there's one impression that is left firmly impressed upon the reader of Alan Greenspan's much anticipated memoir, The Age of Turbulence, it is just how political a dash he cut across the economic scene in the three decades he was central to public life. It is also clear how much he relishes his reputation and image as the great Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the powerful central banker, the trusted public figure. Perhaps there is something of a contradiction between these two sides to Greenspan: one public one private. President Bush senior developed a terrible relationship with Greenspan and became convinced that the Fed was trying to sabotage him. Bush felt let down that a man he reappointed seemed to work against his administration. After all, Greenspan's reluctance to cut rates ahead of the 1992 election helped Clinton's 'it's the economy stupid' mantra to hit home. Greenspan credits Clinton for his approach to achieving economic growth and provides an assessment of every other White House incumbent with whom he had worked since Nixon in 1969. Ford perhaps comes off best with a balanced assessment of Reagan and Bush senior (he never worked for Carter). Only his last boss, George W Bush is admonished as failing to achieve anything of any significance.

He opens the book on the afternoon (he was flying back from Switzerland) of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York. For a man at the centre of so many crises, it is interesting that this should be the beginning of his long and eventful story - a story that runs to a hefty 530 pages and covers his life from birth in 1926. The episode is instructive for it demonstrates two things very clearly. The first is that the job of Chairman of the Federal Reserve, far from being that of a strategic visionary, is one which is forever reacting to events; and the events Greenspan dealt with during his long career are a litany of contemporary economic history: the stockmarket crash (just weeks after his appointment to the Fed in 1987), Mexico, Asia and Russian crises, Long Term Capital Management and the dot com bubble to name but a few. Secondly it illustrates another, more profound, reality. Alan Greenspan, so often considered the second most powerful man in the free world, nevertheless could not impose that power on increasingly mobile and mighty financial markets. And that truth about modern global capitalism is that markets have much less respect for traditional geographic power than was the case when Greenspan started his Wall Street economic consultancy in 1953.

There are two parts to the book: one a genuine and readable autobiography with anecdotes about family, friends and his early career as a clarinet player in Henry Jerome's Travelling Band. He tells of his New York childhood during the depression, his 26c per week allowance and the book written by his Wall Street broker father and dedicated to nine year old Alan: Recovery Ahead, published in 1935, which predicted the end of the depression. The other part of the book is given over to the Chairman's views on the economy, growth, stock markets, capitalism, geo-politics, demographics, energy and other weighty topics. Perhaps less entertaining, these are the chapters that will appeal to investors interested in the prospects for world markets. Examined as a whole, the book suffers the flaws of even the best memoirs. They are imperfect histories an attempt to justify and cement a legacy. There can be no doubt that Alan Greenspan has made a huge contribution to world political economy and for better or worse, his inheritance will long be felt by investors everywhere.

Reviewed by Stephen Barber