Why didn't more people see the current financial crisis coming? It's not the first financial meltdown the world has seen. Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff has a new book with Carmen Reinhart that addresses that question. He talks with Kai Ryssdal.
Tad Friend, who wrote a New Yorker column about how his WASP parents lived without the money and prestige they'd once known, has written a book on the history of his family. It's called "Cheerful Money." He discusses it with Kai Ryssdal.
In Jess Walter's new novel, the protagonist is upside down on his house, out of a job, and a failure at starting a business. But he's got a comeback plan.
John Buntin, who writes about the 20th-century relationship between organized crime and the Los Angeles Police Department in "L.A. Noir," takes Kai Ryssdal on a tour of the city's downtown and points out things that haven't changed much.
Today's young adults have a great deal of spending power. Steve Chiotakis talks to author Kit Yarrow, whose book "Gen Buy" explores how teens and 20-somethings are spending their money and shaping retail.
Authors Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn talk with Kai Ryssdal about their book, "Half the Sky," and why more aid should be targeted to women so countries can be lifted out of impoverishment.
Alain De Botton, author of "The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work," talks with Tess Vigeland about our modern relationship with work and how occupations help shape our identities.
