What if, in celebration of America’s 250th birthday, we eschewed UFC fights on the White House lawn and Grand Prix races around the streets of Washington, D.C., and instead buried our heads in an eclectic and engaging volume of short takes on all manner of quintessentially American phenomena?Happily, this idea, inspired and inspirational, is no longer aspirational. 250 Great American Things comes from County Highway, the offbeat outlet that boasts of publishing “America’s Only Newspaper,” a broadsheet “produced by actual human beings” covering “political and spiritual crises” as well as everything from agriculture to living off the grid.Quietly, County Highway — and its book-publishing arms, Hard Cider Press and Panamerica — has become a main artery for an impressive array of contributing writers from disciplines beyond journalism: the odd biologist, rancher, herbalist, filmmaker, infantryman, or economist. The roster has also included revered novelists Thomas McGuane and Richard Russo; Brat Pack survivor Tama Janowitz; the late Martin Mull; Amanda Fortini, late of the New Yorker and Paris Review; Krist Novoselić, formerly Nirvana’s bassist; and David Samuels, the veteran journalist who cofounded and edits County Highway.