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16

T H U R S D A Y

For a decade now, William Greider has been writing books that try to reveal the forces behind our economic woes. He first took aim at the Federal Reserve, in a 1987 book that deserves praise not so much because of its pat leftist conclusions but because it explained the Fed’s workings in readable, instructive language. He next drew his brush more broadly over the whole of “American democracy,” in Who Will Tell the People (1992). But apparently even that wasn’t satisfactory, so now Greider has written 500 dense pages on “global capitalism”: One World, Ready or Not. Despite its heft, in the book Greider offers his simplest, and most simple-minded, argument to date. He explains everything that’s wrong with the world capitalist economy—income disparity, social dislocations, community breakdown—but nothing that’s right—overall better living conditions, increased social mobility, and more freedom. Finally, as in his other books, he says here—against all evidence—that the people may be just about ready to rise up and change all this. Challenge Greider at 7 p.m. at Politics & Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. FREE. (202) 364-1919. (John Cloud)