MAESTRO: GREENSPAN’S FED AND THE AMERICAN BOOM, by Bob Woodward (Simon & Schuster Audio, $25), Read by James Naughton, 4.5 hours

One of America’s most famous print journalists peeks behind the curtain at the shy wizard, now 75, who steered the economy through the longest boom in U.S. history. Woodward centers his gossipy tour of the Fed on the Juilliard-trained jazz saxophone player dubbed “The Undertaker” by his friends in Ayn Rand’s elite circle. But along the way the D.C. insider gives us a glimpse of the surprisingly political institution that Greenspan is slated to chair until 2004.