Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. There's a funny line in today's

interview about how the American story is a marriage, not like between Northern South or Republican and

Democrat or anything like that, but instead between Democratic governance and free market capitalism.

The guy who says it is John Hilsenrath, a Wall Street

Journal reporter who just wrote a new biography about Janet Yellen, the towering figure in

economics, who was the first female head of the Federal Reserve, and is now Secretary of the Treasury.

It's titled, Yellen, the trailblazing economist who navigated an era of upheaval. And he talked to hear now,

Scott Tong, about how Yellen's own marriage kind of mirrors that American one between democracy

and the market. In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on On our new show, Sources and Methods,

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand why

distant events matter here at home. Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever

you get your podcasts. The economy, as you know, is fragile right now.

Inflation seems everywhere.

And at this moment, a new book has come out about one of the top economic policy makers of

her generation, Janet Yellen.

She is the first female Treasury Secretary, and she was also the first female head of

the Federal Reserve.

But let's talk about Janet Yellen, the person.

She recently told Stephen Colbert on the late show that before she signed the new dollar

bill, she practiced.

I knew that this was something you could really screw up, and I wanted to get it right.

...