A Global Life

October 18, 2010
Now 76 years old, Wolfensohn (Voice of the World's Poor) has had a rich and varied life as an investment banker, chairman of Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, head of the World Bank, and finally advocate of peace as special envoy to the Middle East. The first third of the book is devoted to a fascinating chronicle of his early life growing up in a close-knit, middle-class Jewish family. His parents, who emigrated from Britain to Australia, faced tough financial times during the Great Depression and over-coddled the young Wolfensohn, expecting him to excel. Though he nearly flunked out of Sidney University, he ultimately earned a law degree and went on to receive an MBA at Harvard and become a U.S. citizen. He writes candidly of the mistakes he made during his long and successful career and the lessons they taught him. Married to his college sweetheart, with three children, he claims that the idea of writing this book, "grew out of a desire to leave… a record of the events that shaped me" for his adult children, and in the hope that younger readers might be encouraged to "follow at least some part of the path taken."

August 15, 2010

The story of the author's unlikely ascent from middle-class Australian Jewish upbringing to Wall Street wealth, president of the World Bank and Middle East peace negotiator.

Born in 1933, Wolfensohn rose above his modest upbringing to earn a law degree at the University of Sydney and MBA at Harvard University. Always curious and talented, he learned fencing well enough to compete in the 1956 Olympic Games, served in the Royal Australian Air Force and became a talented cello player. He found world finance fascinating, especially as he tried to figure out the global wealth-poverty gap. The first half of the book frequently reads like a family album, as the author and his wife Elaine and their three children move among the cities of London, New York and Washington, D.C., because of his job shifts. The author's candor about people he respects and dislikes is refreshing, as is his frank assessment of his own strengths and shortcomings. The memoir picks up noticeably in 1995, when Wolfensohn won the approval of President Clinton and other leaders to become president of the influential and controversial World Bank. Since the end of World War II, the World Bank had tried to help impoverished nations with infrastructure such as roads and dams, and had also played a role, along with its related agency, the International Monetary Fund, in curing the economies of debtor nations. Wolfensohn tells of resistance he faced inside and outside the World Bank as he tried to emphasize the elimination of poverty, improved treatment of subjugated women and environmental degradation in dozens of nations on multiple continents. The author served his second five-year term as bank president during the George W. Bush administration, and in general contrasts that administration unfavorably compared to Clinton's. After leaving the bank presidency, Wolfensohn served as an envoy trying to broker Israeli disengagement from Gaza, an effort that went poorly by his own admission, in part due to the doctrinaire positions of almost everybody involved.

An often engaging memoir that is especially strong in its insights into global poverty.

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October 1, 2010

Wolfensohn's varied accomplishments include being a successful financier at Schroders and Salomon Brothers as well as at his own firms, becoming the ninth president of the World Bank, and playing a major role in the planned withdrawal of Israel from the Gaza region. He was born in Australia to Jewish parents who emigrated from England and who often experienced financial hardships. In this memoir, Wolfensohn describes how his father's successes and failures impacted him and how they were a major influence in developing his business savvy. He also reveals aspects of his personality such as persistence, risk taking, and viewing mistakes as opportunities to show us what helped him succeed in many ventures. VERDICT Individuals with an interest in international business and the provision of aid to economically disadvantaged countries will find this book fascinating for Wolfensohn's insights, worldwide experiences, and adventures. Recommended.--Caroline Geck, Newark Public Schs., NJ

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2010
Wolfensohn, investment banker, diplomat, musician, arts patron, and influential player on the global stage, recounts his boyhood in Australia, his education there and abroad, and his marriage and return to Australia to engage in investments and merchant banking while his young family grew. In 1968 he moved to Schroders in London, participating in the Eurodollar revolution, which created the impetus for a new phase of globalization in financial markets, and over time led their New York and London efforts. He joined Salomon Brothers in New York in the early 1980s, where he witnessed the fierce competition and the innovative skills of Wall Street as he built their corporate-finance department and then later formed his own firm. The wide reach of his community interests included chairmanships of Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington before being named president of the World Bank in 1995. He notes themes that inspired my presidency: fighting poverty, using technology and education to document and spread knowledge, and protecting the environment.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)