FED SAGA BACK FROM THE BRINK The Greenspan Years By Steven K. Beckner Wiley 452pp $29.95 Despite its profound influence over the economy, the Federal Reserve has rarely been the subject of a book that provides the public with an understandable, behind-the-scenes look at how the secretive Fed really works. William Greider's 1987 tome, Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country, has long stood as the benchmark, albeit a flawed one given Greider's populist bias. While Secrets provided an almost novel-like read of then-Fed Chairman Paul A. Volcker's unpopular but necessary moves in the late '70s and early '80s to stave off hyperinflation by pushing the economy into a brutal recession, Greider's account was colored by his belief that the Fed often acts to protect the creditor class to the detriment of the worker. In Back from the Brink: The Greenspan Years, veteran Market News Service reporter Steven K. Beckner picks up about where Greider's book left off--at the beginning of the reign of Alan Greenspan, who succeeded Volcker in 1987. But while Greider left other authors the opportunity to provide an evenhanded and accessible explanation of the Fed's activities, Beckner doesn't quite rise to the challenge. Back from the Brink is an exhaustive--and sometimes exhausting--account of the Greenspan years. Beckner occasionally turns a nice phrase and provides a lot of detail that in part captures Greenspan's intellect and dry wit. (When a guest at a dinner party asked, ''Where are all the real people of Washington?'' Greenspan replied drolly, ''There aren't any.'') But the book often plods along, weighed down by too much Fedspeak and Beckner's inclination to quote seemingly every source he interviewed. What's more, Beckner at times comes close to deifying the Fed chief. For example, explaining the motivation behind his book, he writes that ''people deserved to know just how close to the precipice they came...and how fortunate they were to have a person of Greenspan's caliber running U.S. monetary policy.'' Beckner also posits that the Greenspan years ''have probably been the most difficult time to make monetary policy in the Fed's 83-year history.'' Really? More than during the Great Depression, World War II, or even the Volcker era? Make no mistake, Greenspan may well be the most accomplished economic forecaster of his generation. But Greenspan himself might admit that the Fed's job in recent years has been made easier by powerful disinflationary forces that have lessened the need for monetary action: In the past five years, the central bank has only altered interest rates 10 times--and all but 4 of those moves were quarter-point adjustments. Still, for readers willing to chop through the repetition and jargon, Beckner does a yeoman's job of chronicling the Fed policy of the past decade. Back from the Brink shows how important the dollar has become in policymaking, the pressure recent U.S. Administrations have put on the Fed to supply easy money, and how some Fed officials have at times appeared willing to induce a recession just to wring out the last bit of inflation. If only Beckner and Greider could collaborate on a Fed book.... By DEAN FOUST RELATED ITEMS PHOTO: Cover, ''Back From the Brink'' Return to top of story

Updated June 15, 1997 by bwwebmaster
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