(Harper Collins Publishing, $24.99)

With chapters aptly titled "Drunk and Illiterate (and Not Just a Little Bit)" and "Sex, Drugs, and Mocking Roles," this is the history book we dreamed of in high school. It's American history as told by our cool older brother, complete with hilarious quips about failed foreign policy, politicians' extracurricular hanky panky, and where our tax money really goes. Exploring everything from Christopher Columbus' maiden voyage to the judgment errors of Hurricane Katrina, Sass offers an entertaining commentary on the history we thought we knew. The best part? You actually learn something without being bored to tears. // Christina Bernecker

Summer of Shadows:
A Murder, A Pennant Race, and the Twilight of the Best Location in the Nation
Jonathan Knight

(Clerisy Press, $17.95)

In his narrative on Cleveland's infamous summer of 1954, Knight interweaves two major events that he argues marked the beginning of the end of the city's golden age: the Indians' journey to (and ultimate loss) in the 1954 World Series and Marilyn Sheppard's unsolved murder. Incorporating Truman Capote-like details about the Sheppard case, from what she did the night before her death to the exact time the coroner arrived, and a play-by-play recounting of each World Series game, Knight captures a sense of misery and dread with which all Clevelanders can identify. // Leila Archer