Squash : A History of the Game [Hardcover]

James Zug (Author), George Plimpton (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 2003

The first comprehensive history of squash in the United States, Squash incorporates every aspect of this increasingly popular sport: men's and women's play, juniors and intercollegiates, singles and doubles, hardball and softball, amateurs and professionals.

Invented by English schoolboys in the 1850s, squash first came to the United States in 1884 when St. Paul's School in New Hampshire built four open-air courts. The game took hold in Philadelphia, where players founded the U.S. Squash Racquets Association in 1904, and became one of the primary pastimes of the nation's elite. Squash launched a U.S. Open in 1954, but its present boom started in the 1970s when commercial squash clubs took the sport public. In the 1980s a pro tour sprung up to offer tournaments on portable glass courts in dramatic locales such as the Winter Garden at the World Trade Center.

James Zug, with access to private archives and interviews with hundreds of players, describes the riveting moments and sweeping historical trends that have shaped the game. He focuses on the biographies of legendary squash personalities: Eleo Sears, the Boston Brahmin who swam in the cold Atlantic before matches; Hashim Khan, the impish founder of the Khan dynasty; Victor Niederhoffer, the son of a Brooklyn cop; and Mark Talbott, a Grateful Dead groupie who traveled the pro circuit sleeping in the back of his pickup. A gripping cultural history, Squash is the book for which all aficionados of this fast-paced, exciting game have been waiting.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this detailed account of a sport few Americans know much about, Zug, a former Dartmouth squash player and freelance writer, intersperses throughout his narrative elements of surprise with analogies and references to draw readers into this unfamiliar terrain. For instance, he begins by explaining that squash, known primarily as an elitist endeavor reserved for prep schoolers and yuppies, developed in London's Fleet Prison in the early 1800s. But Zug makes squash relevant by capturing an interesting parallel between the game and American social movements as he details squash's evolution from the pastime of America's most exclusive universities and clubs to the emergence of women on the American squash scene in the 1920s and America's fitness obsession in the late 1970s and '80s, which made the game accessible to the middle class and brought squash courts to every neighborhood YMCA from coast to coast. Furthermore, realizing that a sport is only as compelling as its champions, Zug presents colorful bios of the game's best and most eccentric players, including college dropout and Deadhead Mark Talbot, John McEnroe-like Victor Niedhoffer (who retired in his prime to protest the sport's anti-Semitic stance in the 1960s) and Roshan Khan (from a famous squash family, his "lusty" lifestyle led Ted Kennedy to say he came from the "Irish part of Pakistan"). While only squash fanatics will find this detailed work a must read, Zug's passion for and knowledge of the game make this a unique addition to the library of sports histories.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Who would have thought squash, the game in which a little ball is smashed into a wall with racquets, could be so endlessly fascinating, so steeped in culture and history? Zug, a longtime squash player, begins in the 1500s, when tennis was all the rage. But by the early 1700s, there were variations of the game, including one called racquets, created by inmates in the Fleet, a British debtors' prison. From there we move smoothly on to the 1800s, when students at elite Harrow School, just outside London, transmuted racquets into the game we now call squash. The author charts the modern history of squash--from the 1860s to the present day--with gusto, introducing us to dozens of the game's best and most flamboyant players (best and flamboyant seem to go hand-in-hand in squash circles), explaining why this seemingly simple game is among the most subtle and hard-to-learn sports. It's one of those books about a very specialized topic that somehow turns out to be surprisingly readable even for those unfamiliar with the subject. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (September 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743229908
• ISBN-13: 978-0743229906
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #415,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #7 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Racket Sports > Squash

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Like golf on TV..., November 5, 2003

By 

John Nixon (Carmel, IN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Squash : A History of the Game (Hardcover)

...if you've never played golf, it's darn near unwatchable. If you've never played squash, I'm not sure this book is all that readable, save in small chunks. However, for a player such as me it's a great book. Most interesting are Zug's efforts at unravelling the origins of the game from the morass of legends, myths and speculations surrounding that whole English prison/public school debate; and his thoughts on the fairly recent conversion of the North American countries to the international softball game. He mourns, as I do somewhat, the loss of the quirky games and personalities that the American hardball game produced.
If I had one quibble it would be the author's dwelling on the stories and athletes with ties to the Ivy League's perennial squash powers. I could have used a little less history of Harvard's stars of the 1920's and a little more on some less well-known squash luminaries. For example, Heather McKay, the Australian, won the British Open 16 consecutive years, didn't lose a single game in a tournament for nine straight years, etc., etc., but merits two paragraphs?
Overall an impressive accomplishment for Mr. Zug. Well written, thoroughly researched, and heartfelt. Thanks!

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sports Brought to Life! Amazing Characters...Great History, September 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Squash : A History of the Game (Hardcover)

Take your pick: Whether you're a sports nuts or a fan of history, you'll love this book. Zug catches you right away and pulls you into this fun, quirky, elite, competitve world. Even if you've never seen a squash game, this is a great read. You'll be delighted by the memorable characters and refreshing writing. A GREAT read!!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read, October 5, 2004

By 

Jalper (RI, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Squash : A History of the Game (Hardcover)

"Squash: A History of the Game" was a very interesting read, and I especially recommend it for all players of Squash. Although dense at points, this book really gives a great history of how squash came to be. James Zug takes us through the transformation from a game named fives, first played against a kitchen chimeny wall, to raquets made from bamboo sticks, to the regulation size courts and oversized hyper titanium raquets we know today. It even explained why "Squash" is called squash, the mysterious question that nobody on my team seems to know the answer to. Im not going to tell you however, you'll have to read it on your own. Like I said before, I belive this book is more enjoyable for squash players. This is just my opinion however, so if you don't play squash I still suggest you try reading this book.

Well anyway thats my 2 cents. Altogether I think this book is definitly a great read, and definitly very useful as a reference if you are writing an essay on the history of squash. Four star material.

-Jalper