In this title, a professional economist assesses the successes and failures of recent Federal Reserve chairmen - and the Fed's performance, as well. A crowd gathers. People crane their necks. Cameras flash. The limo door opens. Who is it - Mick Jagger? Oprah? Tiger Woods? No. It's Alan Greenspan - and the crowd still goes wild. Many felt Greenspan walked on water during his lengthy term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve System. But was he a genius or, as Tolstoy might portray him, simply someone who could manifest confidence while attempting to captain an uncontrollable ship? In this book, economist Leonard Santow casts a steely eye on the Fed and its five most recent chairmen - Arthur Burns, G. William Miller, Paul Volcker, Alan Greenspan, and Ben Bernanke. Along the way, readers learn what function the Fed performs and why, how monetary policy differs from fiscal policy, which levers the Fed uses to change the money supply and control inflation, and more.