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Since the Manhattan Project, the U.S. president has wielded more military power than ever before. And in the opinion of historian Garry Wills, more than the commander-in-chief is allowed by the Constitution. Guy Raz talks with Wills about his new book, Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State.

Almost a year ago, the U.S. economy started its plunge. This week, NPR is launching American Indicators, a series that will personalize the big economic stories we hear every day.

Philip Galanes talks about what it takes to get your modern-etiquette question answered in the Sunday New York Times — and takes a few questions from NPR listeners.

Claudia Roth Pierpont's new Roth Unbound looks at themes in the work of Philip Roth (no relation). All the themes, in every book by the famously prolific writer. Reviewer Heller McAlpin says it's "a dazzling if sometimes exhausting journey" that dutifully addresses Roth's foibles as well as his talent.

Heart of a Samurai tells the true story of 14-year-old Manjiro, a boy who was shipwrecked, rescued by whalers and taken to America. It was the late 1800s, when Japan was cut off from the outside world — until Manjiro returned and influenced the shogun to open the country to diplomacy.

"If we want to make media better then we've got to start consuming better media," says open-source-Internet activist Clay Johnson. His new book, The Information Diet, makes the case for more "conscious consumption" of news and information.

In The Innovators, Walter Isaacson explains that Pentagon officials wanted a system the Russians couldn't attack, and 1984 made the public wary of new technology's Big Brother potential.

President Biden is visiting Texas one week after he officially declared a major disaster in the state, which has been reeling from record cold, power outages and a water crisis.

"There is no better way to see through somebody else's eyes than by reading fiction," says novelist Jennifer Haigh.

Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer live by a new self-help book for each episode of their podcast By the Book, so they're experts on which ones might really help us keep our New Year's resolutions.