James Zug
An award-winning historian and journalist.
He received a masters in nonfiction writing from Columbia in 1999. A long-time correspondent for the Boston Globe, he has written for the Atlantic, New Criterion, Tin House, Tennis Week, Dartmouth Alumni Magazine and Friends Journal. A former book review columnist for Outside, he has reviewed books for the Wall Street Journal, Daily Beast, Boston Globe, New York Times Book Review, Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Tribune, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Boston Book Review and Fast Company. Having written a bi-weekly blog at Vanity Fair, he blogs now at www.squashword.com.
He is the author of six books: a history of U.S. squash (Scribner, 2003); a history of a century-old Quaker summer community in Pennsylvania (privately published, 2004); a biography of John Ledyard (Basic Books, 2005) that was named an Editor’s Choice by the New York Times Book Review; a history of the Guardian, a Cape Town anti-apartheid newspaper (Michigan State, 2007); a history of Sidwell Friends School (privately published, 2008); and Run to the Roar, a book about leadership and mentoring through the life story of the winningest coach in U.S. collegiate history. He also edited John Ledyard’s collected writings (National Geographic, 2005). His fiction appeared in the anthology Stress City: A Big Book of Fiction By 51 DC Guys (Paycock Press, 2008).

James Zug
LATEST BOOKS
Run to the Roar
By James Zug
Run to the Roar, published by Penguin in November 2010, is a book for parents and coaches who want to learn how to mentor the
The Long Conversation
By James Zug
In September 1883 Thomas Sidwell opened a new school in a back room in Washington, DC’s Quaker meetinghouse. In the next one hundred and twenty-five
The Guardian
By James Zug
The sole national anti-apartheid newspaper in South Africa, the Guardian not only reported on the liberation struggle but led it. Reporting on strikes, repression and political manuevering,
The Last Voyage of Captain Cook
By James Zug
Called “a man of genius,” by Thomas Jefferson, John Ledyard was the first great American explorer. Ledyard (1751-1789) was a native of Groton, Connecticut. He
The Last Voyage of Captain Cook
By James Zug
The first time all of Ledyard’s writings have been published together, The Last Voyage of Captain Cook was published in March 2005 by the National Geographic Society. It
The Preserve: A Centennial History 1904-2004
By James Zug
The Preserve: A Centennial History 1904-2004 was privately published in a 2,000-copy edition in August 2004. Professionally designed, it is a 312-page, four-color, coffee-table book, with
Squash: A History of the Game
By James Zug
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, Squash incorporated every
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: A Novel
By
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" is an enthralling novel written by the author of Daisy Jones & The Six. The story revolves around a
Testimonial
Words From Our Happy Readers.
Kirkus Reviews
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English.
Show LessAbdullah Al Imran
I am a tennis fan and keen recreational player but this book offers so much more than tennis!! It tells the story of ambition, dedication, love, talent, success and failure and ultimately accepting what fate has in store for you while continuing to do your best. Such a great book. Strongly recommended to tennis and non tennis fans as it caters for everyone. Well done Taylor !! Superb!! Xx
Show LessAbdullah Al Imran
Wow. I’m a tennis fan but you don’t have to know tennis to enjoy this one. This story was the Carolina the battle axe and Javier the Jaguar story, father-daughter story.
It’s an inside look to a very driven Athlete and her journey was one that I couldn’t stop following.
So many gems in this book but the biggest ones is that Father Time is undefeated and ALL record will be broken.
The evolution of Carrie was frustrating at times but she was who she was. Loved Beau and his journey as well.
This isn’t about romantic love but about love of sport and accepting oneself. It took time and work but this book was worth it
Abdullah Al Imran
I am officially a huge fan of everything Taylor Jenkins Reid writes. Her writing style gets me so absorbed in the storyline. I really care about her characters (love them, hate them, understand them), and I’m always surprised how fast I fly through the book.
Show LessAbdullah Al Imran
From the Author's Desk
Insights & Updates
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Nearly all great ideas follow a similar creative process and this article explains how this process works. Understanding this is important because
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James Zug can be contacted at jameszug {at} gmail dot com.
He is represented by:
David Black
David Black Agency
(718) 852-5500
- 1 - Nov - 2025 (01 Nov 2025 10.00 am - 3.00 pm CST)
