James D. Snyder

Introducing James D. Snyder

Jim Snyder has won numerous awards for historical fiction novels ranging from the genesis of Christianity to the Spanish discovery of Florida to the story of a young woman caught up in high-stakes blockade-running during the Civil War. “The common thread among them,” he says, “is an effort to help the reader grasp the essence of a dramatic historical period through the lives of individuals who lived through it.”

The latest of his historical novels is "The Music Makers," the story of ordinary people caught up in the stifling Communist dictatorship that ruled East Berlin in the Cold War era. It opens with a group of street musicians who gather on Sundays to bring some sunshine to a gray, grim city. They soon find themselves scrutinized - and past lives painfully exposed - before risking everything to topple the despised Berlin Wall. The book is also a haunting reminder of how an autocrat can lure a nation into dictatorship.

In addition to his novels, author Snyder writes and speaks about the colorful history surrounding his home on the Loxahatchee River in jupiter, FL. "Five Thousand Years on the Loxahatchee" is a pictorial history of Jupiter-Tequesta, FL while "Black Gold and Silver Sands" describes the hard-scrabble beginnings of Palm Beach county. "A Trip Down the Loxahatchee" shows the Loxahatchee River’s beauty through the eyes of 52 painters and photographers. "Life and Death on the Loxahatchee" tells the story of a larger-than-life “Tarzan” who fascinated locals until - and beyond - his mysterious death. "A Light in the Wilderness" shows how a lone lighthouse in forlorn Jupiter became the magnet that drew a throng of early settlers to South Florida.

Jim Snyder has been a writer and editor since graduating from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and The George Washington University graduate school of political science. Beginning in the 1970s he founded what would become the largest independent Washington news bureau for business and medical magazines. In 1984 it became Enterprise Communications Inc., publishing its own magazines and sponsoring major trade shows.

In 1997, when the company was sold to Thomson-Reuters Corp., Snyder was able to pursue a second career as author-historian. Today he is also active in several organizations to protect the Loxahatchee River and its rich history.