GRANT, James 1946-

PERSONAL: Born 1946.

ADDRESSES: Office—Grant's Interest Rate Observer, 2 Wall St., New York, NY 10005.

CAREER: Barron's, writer and originator of "Current Yield" column, c. 1975–83; Grant's Interest Rate Observer, New York, NY, founder and editor, 1983–. Television appearances, including on CBS Evening News, Nightly Business Report, and Sixty Minutes.

WRITINGS:

Bernard M. Baruch: Adventures of a Wall Street Legend, Simon and Schuster (New York, NY), 1983.

Money of the Mind: Borrowing and Lending in America from the Civil War to Michael Milken, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1992.

Minding Mr. Market: Ten Years on Wall Street with "Grant's Interest Rate Observer," Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1993.

The Trouble with Prosperity: The Loss of Fear, the Rise of Speculation, and the Risk to American Savings, Times Books (New York, NY), 1996.

John Adams: Party of One, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 2005.

Author of monthly column for Forbes magazine.

SIDELIGHTS: James Grant has written books on financial history as well as a biography of one of America's founding fathers, John Adams. Grant's book The Trouble with Prosperity: The Loss of Fear, the Rise of Speculation, and the Risk to American Savings explores the author's philosophy of business cycles. He addresses such issues as the Federal Reserve Board's manipulation of interest rates and the consequences of too much interference with the natural up-and-down business cycle. Writing in Booklist, David Rouse noted that the author's economic theories are based on "the Austrian school of economics, the tenets of which Grant lucidly explains." A Publishers Weekly contributor called the book an "astute, elegantly written, selective financial history of the last few decades."

In John Adams: Party of One Grant looks at the second U.S. president's life and legacy. He writes not only of Adams's political life as one of the framers of the constitution, but also of his work as an economic philosopher. In addition, Grant discusses Adams's financial acumen, such as his success in getting foreign loans to support the colonial revolution against the British. A Kirkus Reviews contributor called the book "of much interest to students of the early Republic and the revolutionary era." A Publishers Weekly contributor concluded that the book is "eloquent and deserves a wide reading." Gilbert Taylor wrote in Booklist that "Grant is excellent at developing Adams' devotion to liberty."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 1996, David Rouse, review of Minding Mr. Market: Ten Years on Wall Street with "Grant's Interest Rate Observer," p. 556; January 1, 2005, Gilbert Taylor, review of John Adams: Party of One, p. 808.

Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 2004, review of John Adams, p. 1131.

Library Journal, January 1, 2005, Thomas J. Baldino, review of John Adams, p. 123.

Publishers Weekly October 14, 1996, review of Minding Mr. Market, p. 72; March 14, 2005, review of John Adams, p. 56.