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On this week's show, the state of rock and the art of the con — or at least the con-artist film.

The ocean liner's sinking by a German U-boat led to the U.S. entering World War I. Erik Larson, author of Dead Wake, says British intelligence knew the ship was in danger and didn't tell anyone.

American political scientist Robert Putnam says we've lost sight of America as the land of opportunity. NPR's Scott Simon talks with him about his new book, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis.

In The Savage Detectives, Roberto Bolaño invented the "visceral realists," a group of wild writers who read anywhere and everywhere — causing critic Juan Vidal to ponder the weird places we read.

Mary Aiken, who examines digital fingerprints to help solve crimes, is the real-life inspiration for the lead investigator on CSI: Cyber. She says she works where "humans and technology collide."

In his collection Barefoot Dogs, Antonio Ruiz-Camacho offers varying perspectives on the kidnapping of a Mexican patriarch. He asks: "How do you reach closure when someone you love has disappeared?"

Erik Larson's new book about the sinking of the liner Lusitania by a German U-boat in 1915 brings the past stingingly alive. Reviewer Jean Zimmerman calls Dead Wake "thrilling, dramatic and powerful."

Kent Russell (brother of Swamplandia! author Karen) makes a striking debut with a collection of essays that double as memoir. Critic Michael Schaub calls the book tough, tender and deeply original.

HBO on Monday announced a new service presenting its shows online without a cable subscription. NPR TV Critic Eric Deggans says it also shows the power of consumers to bring change in a digital world.

Rachel Hartman continues her tale of half-dragon musician and unwilling diplomat Seraphina in Shadow Scale. Reviewer Amal El-Mohtar says the new book doesn't just live up to the old, it outgrows it.