Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist

Lowenstein wrote the first serious biography of Buffett, published in 1995 without Buffett's cooperation, though many associates spoke to him. It traces the Omaha childhood, the Columbia period under Graham, Buffett Partnership Ltd from 1956 to 1969, the acquisition of Berkshire Hathaway, and the transformation from cigar-butt buying into the insurance-funded acquisition of quality businesses.

The book is strongest on the partnership years and the mechanics of the early deals. Lowenstein covers the Sanborn Map campaign, Dempster Mill, American Express after the salad oil scandal, and the decision to close the partnership in 1969 when Buffett could no longer find value. He explains the insurance float mechanism clearly, showing how National Indemnity and later GEICO gave Berkshire capital with a negative cost. The Salomon Brothers crisis of 1991, where Buffett took over as interim chairman after the Treasury auction scandal, is covered in detail.

Lowenstein is a financial journalist and writes for readers who want the reasoning behind the transactions. He also documents the personal side, including the arrangement with Susan Buffett and Astrid Menks and Buffett's distance from his children, without turning the book into psychology.

The main limitation is date. The book ends in the mid-1990s, so it misses the technology bubble, the 2008 crisis interventions, the Apple position and the succession question. Alice Schroeder's The Snowball is longer, authorised and more personal. Lowenstein remains the better book on the investment reasoning and on the partnership-era arithmetic. Readers wanting Buffett's own words should use the shareholder letters instead.

Financial journalist and author; Wall Street Journal reporter for over a decade

Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist and When Genius Failed are the standard reference accounts of Buffett's rise and of the LTCM collapse.

Sequoia Fund, The Wall Street Journal