Pursuits: Book Report

This month: ESPN gridiron guru (and ex-Inky sports scribe) Sal Paolantonio traces the twinned evolution of our nation and the national pastime (Manifest Destiny! John Wayne and Johnny Unitas!) in How Football Explains America (Triumph Books; $24.95). ...

Flip off Law & Order for the gripping Two Boys: Divided by Fortune, United by Tragedy (Camino Books; $27.95) — ex-Inky reporter Robert Zausner’s telling of two Philly courtroom dramas tried by legal luminaries Shanin Specter and Tom Kline. …

’Tis the self-help time of year: Look for Penn prof and diet coach Judith Beck’s follow-up to best-selling The Beck Diet Solution — The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Oxmoor House; $24.95) — plus advice from two Philly Mag staffers. Our health and wellness guru, Jenna Bergen, has penned Your Big Fat Boyfriend:  How to Stay Thin When Dating a Diet Disaster (Quirk; $14.95), and Philadelphia Wedding editor Carrie Denny presents The Bride’s Instruction Manual (Quirk; $15.95), for the lucky girls who found rings in their stockings.