Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II - Softcover

Budiansky, Stephen

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9780140281057: Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140281053 ISBN 13: 9780140281057

Publisher: Penguin, 2001

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Over the last two years, nearly 5,000 documents detailing US and British codebreaking during WWII have been declassified. These include the complete notebooks of Alan Turing, full texts of deciphered U-boat cables, and master cryptanalyst William Friedman's diagram of the Japanese purple cipher machine - which he deduced without ever having seen the actual device. By drawing on these files, plus numerous other documents and oral histories, Stephen Budiansky has written a gripping narrative ofcodebreaking during the war.

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Synopsis:

Based on newly declassified documents, this is the first complete story of Allied code-breaking in World War II - the compelling tale of codebreaking's golden age. In 1939 cryptoanalysis was in its infancy, its practitioners' skills rudimentary and untried. The codebreakers faced huge barriers of official indifference and - from the military bureaucracy - even contempt for their work. Yet during the course of the war these men and women accomplished extraordinary feats of mathematical wizardry that turned the tide of many critical battles. Stephen Budiansky tells their story. From the fight against the Nazi U-boats in the Atlantic, to the climactic showdown against Yamamoto's aircraft carriers at Midway, and the success of the D-Day invasion, "Battle of Wits" reveals the "shadow war" that lay behind the famous events of World War II, and breathes life into unsung heroes whose work has been wrapped in secrecy for decades.

Drawing on literally thousands of previously unseen files, Budiansky provides lucid explanations of how the most impenetrable of Axis codes were actually broken - including the German ENIGMA and Japanese "Purple" machines - and traces the origins of the top-secret project, codenamed VENONA, that broke the Soviet spy codes in one of the most incredible cryptoanalytic feats of all time.

About the Author:

Stephen Budiansky is the author of four highly acclaimed books: THE COVENANT OF THE WILD, NATURE'S KEEPERS, THE NATURE OF HORSES and IF A LION COULD TALK. The first two were shortlisted for the Rhone-Poulenc Award. He lives in Virginia.

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