Published by Scribner in September 2003, Squash has a foreword written by the late George Plimpton. The first history of the game in the United States since 1930, Squash incorporates every aspect of this increasingly popular sport. 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. Today the sport is seen on the Tennis Channel and experienced live at exciting pro tournaments in Grand Central Station in New York and Boston's Symphony Hall.

James Zug is a senior writer at Squash Magazine. He is the official historian of US Squash and writes a monthly column, The Direct, which can be found at the US Squash website. He is the chair of the United States Squash Hall of Fame and a founder of DC Squash Academy, an after-school youth enrichment program.

• Listen to James Zug talk about the book on NPR's "It's Only a Game" from 9/13/2003.
• Read reviews of Squash