Codebreakers: The Story of Secret Writing

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1968. Third Printing . Hard Back. Very Good/No Dust Jacket. 6 1/2" X 9 3/4. 1164 Pages Indexed. Maroon cloth with a blue cloth quarter spine with gold lettering. Top page edges are red. There are three stamps with the appearance of coded letters that may be part of the original print on the front endpaper. This tight square book is in incredibly good condition with interior text pages that are near flawless. Codebreaking is the most important form of secret intelligence in the world today (1968) and in this book the author relates its story fully and accurately. Mr. Kahn takes the reader behind the closed doors of history's "black chambers" and describes their workings. He tells how the secret activities of cryptanalysts have often determined the outcome of battles and diplomatic coups. He recounts the impact of the events that have molded modern cryptology, portrays the outstanding personalities of the science, and outlines the techniques - some electronic - used to break the most advanced machine ciphers. His story stretches from the proto-cryptography of Khnumhotep II to the speculations of scientists on how to solve messages from outer space. But the best part of the book consists of its stories about codes and ciphers. The first chapter is a vivid, suspenseful description of U.S. cryptanalytic operations in late 1941. In some respects, nothing has changed. The Japanese military strategy in the days leading up to Pearl Harbor - total radio silence on the part of Yamamoto's strike force - was brilliant enough. It is forever impossible to extract intelligence from silence. Kahn also gives the reader step-by-step accounts of the thought processes of brilliant cryptanalysts such as the Frenchman Georges Painvin as he single-handedly solves the diabolical German ADFGX system in the First World War. His efforts arguably shortened the war on the Western Front as by the same token the Russian Army lost the crucial Battle of Tannenberg in the East through poor communications security. Kahn's book is an indispensable account of the role cryptanalysis has played and still plays in world history. Contents in 26 Chapters: One Day of Magic, The First 3,000 Years, The Rise of the West, On the Origin of a Species, The Era of the Black Chambers, The Contribution of the Dilettantes, Crises of the Union, The Professor the Soldier and the Man on Devil's Island, Room 40, A War of Intercepts I, A War of Intercepts II, Two Americans, Secrecy for Sale, Duel in the Ether The Axis, Duel in the Ether Neutrals and Allies, Censors Scramblers and Spies, The Scrutable Orientals, PYCCKAR KPIITlTOJI1, N.S.A., The Anatomy of Cryptology, Heterogeneous Impulses, Rumrunners Businessmen and Makers of Non- secret Codes, Ciphers in the Past Tense, The Pathology of Cryptology, Ancestral Voices, and Messages from Outer Space. A large heavy book that may incur additional shipping charges to some locations.