BEA Keynote Speaker Alan Greenspan on The Age of Turbulence

The 2007 BookExpo America keynote speaker was in fact a duo: Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and author of the forthcoming book The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in A New World (Penguin Press), was interviewed on stage by his wife, Andrea Mitchell, chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News.

Lance Fensterman, BEA show director, noted that Greenspan's appearance marked the first interview in nearly 20 years for "one of the nation's great thinkers and leaders."

Susan Peterson-Kennedy, president of Penguin Group USA, said of Greenspan, "You know him as someone whose vision of the future actually affects the future. I know him as an author, a writer for whom many people are waiting."

Mitchell began the interview by calling Greenspan, "Mr. Chairman" and remarking that "this is the first time I've had the privilege to interview my own husband. You can imagine how eagerly I've been awaiting this."

In response to Mitchell's question about the most exciting aspects of writing the book, Greenspan said, "Trying to put ideas into declarative sentences forces you to be clear."

He added that, in writing The Age of Turbulence, he wanted to "essentially get a sense of why things happen in the world -- in different societies, economics, and politics."

Greenspan told the audience that he thinks the Cold War needs to be more thoroughly examined, and he noted that "very little time has been spent on how important economically that event was."

Mitchell got a hearty laugh from the audience when she said she doesn't think there has "been a writer, except perhaps Archimedes, who did his writing in the bathtub."

Greenspan then explained that, at the beginning of the writing process, he hurt his back and his doctor ordered him to take hot baths daily for three weeks. "Once I got better," he said, "I thought, why get out of the tub?"

Whether Greenspan's unusual office setting impacted his writing remains to be seen: The Age of Turbulence will be published September 17. -- Linda M. Castellitto