Squash : A History of the Game |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Hockey History > Item 234
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Squash : A History of the Game
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by James Zug and George Plimpton
Sales Rank: 575309
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List Price: $58.00
$41.76
At Amazon
on 11-2-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Hard Cover with 352 pages
Published by: Scribner September 23, 2003
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0743229908
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0743229906
Book Dimensions:
9.2 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
Weighs: 1.4 pounds
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
Reader Reviews
...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!
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Squash : A History of the Game
Available from Amazon
Price: $41.76
Updated on 11-2-2008.
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