On today’s Leonard Lopate Show, Newsweek reporter Dana Thomas explained Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster (Penguin, $27.95), which PW’s review found “skillfully narrates European fashion houses' evolution from exclusive ateliers to marketing juggernauts... her curiosity is contagious.”

Wealth Track with Consuelo Mack met with finance writer Jason Zweig, author of Your Money and Your Brain: How the New Science of Neuroeconomics Can Help Make You Rich (S&S, $26). From PW’s starred review: “Backed by stellar research and written in an entertaining, informal style that makes a complex subject accessible to the layperson, Zweig makes clear how we can understand what our brains are doing and how to use that knowledge to get out of our own way and invest wisely.”

Tonight on Tavis Smiley:

Troy Cle, author of the first book in the Marvelous World series, The Marvelous Effect (S&S, $14.99; Listening Library unabridged CD, $37), which follows Louis Proof, called by some "the black Harry Potter."

New York Times Magazine's Matt Bai makes The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics (Penguin, $29.95).

One of the three panelists on Friday night's Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO is Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), who is the subject of the new book, The Thumpin': How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to Be Ruthless and Ended the Republican Revolution by Naftali Bendavid (Doubleday, $23.95).

This weekend on Book TV:

Columnist and historian Micah Halpern introduces Thugs: How History's Most Notorious Despots Transformed the World Through Terror, Tyranny, and Mass Murder (Thomas Nelson, $26.99). PW’s review had this to say: “Not for the faint of heart, this volume examines the lives and dreadful reigns of 56 infamous characters, both current and long gone, who shaped history with mass horror. Written in short, easy-to-digest sentences, Halpern fills his brief sketches with colorful, terrible details in the manner of that rare, beloved history teacher whose lectures stir rapture in a nap-prone student body.”

Humberto Fontova, author of Exposing the Real Che Guevara and the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him (Sentinel, $23.95).

Latino studies professor Antonio Rafael de la Cova recalls The Moncada Attack: Birth of the Cuban Revolution (Univ. of South Carolina Press, $59.95).

Associated Press reporter Seth Hettena serves up Feasting on the Spoils: The Life and Times of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, History's Most Corrupt Congressman (St. Martin’s, $24.95). PW wrote “This straightforward account is a strong summation of Cunningham's ignoble career.”

College psychiatrist Dr. Miriam Grossman, author of Unprotected: A Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness in Her Profession Endangers Every Student (Sentinel, $14).

Due to the nature of live programming, scheduling is subject to change. For more detailed information about author appearances on these shows and others as well as listings of book mentions and book reviews, visit TitleSmart.

Booksellers can order these titles through Ingram at ipage.

Authors on the Air is compiled by Diane Patrick. To be included in the compilation, email DPatrickPW@aol.com.