Overstated: A Coast-to-Coast Roast of the 50 States

Comedian Quinn (The Coloring Book) pokes fun at America’s regional idiosyncracies in this quip-filled survey of U.S. history. Tracking how the country got to the point “where everybody is broken up into cults trying to force their values and ideals onto each other,” Quinn takes on each state one by one. Noting that New Hampshire was the first state to declare its independence from England, he compares the December 1774 raid on Fort William and Mary to “going into a rough sports bar and turning off the game everyone’s watching and putting on The Devil Wears Prada.” He describes Idaho as having “the beauty of Wyoming combined with the boredom of Iowa” and calls out South Dakota for “riding off the fact that North Dakota looks at you like you are the hip brother.” Though Quinn holds out little hope for the long-term health of the union (“this country was supposed to live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse”), he thinks Americans should take pride in the fact that “we let everybody have a personality.” Though more incisive in its cultural skewering than its political analysis, Quinn’s sardonic portrait of America in decline will resonate with readers suspicious of ideological stalwarts on both the right and the left. (Sept.)