A world-renowned tax authority, author, and economist shares lessons in life and observations on great men he has met and known. In this detailed yet highly readable memoir, Walter H. Diamond tells how his prestigious career evolved and how he came to recognize - and cultivate - personal and intellectual traits that were crucial to achievement, such as perseverance, memory, and affinity for foreigners. Diamond's work as a bank examiner for the U.S. Treasury led to new challenges in World War II. As an officer in the U.S. Navy he was involved in six military operations in both the Pacific and Europe, including D-day. He was asked to engineer the safe return of 1,800 survivors of a sunken flotilla. As trade and investment adviser at the U.N. he helped more than 100 world leaders - from kings to presidents, prime ministers to finance ministers - draft plans for fighting poverty. Now Diamond tells what he feels separates the great from the weak, which leaders have impressed him most, and why. Finally, he offers a revelatory assessment on terrorism, and a feasible route to world peace through trade.