The Codebreakers; The Story of Secret Writing

Kahn, David

Published by The Macmillan Company, New York, 1968

About this Item

xvi, [2], 1164 pages. Illustrations. Bibliography. Notes. Index. Some soiling to fore-edge, DJ has some wear and soiling. Paperclip impression on fep. Inscribed on fep by Kahn to Washington DC notable Jiggs Donahue. David Kahn (b. February 7, 1930) is a US historian, journalist and writer. He has written extensively on the history of cryptography and military intelligence. Kahn's first published book, The Codebreakers - The Story of Secret Writing (1967), has been widely considered to be a definitive account of the history of cryptography. Kahn has said he traces his interest in cryptography to reading Fletcher Pratt's Secret and Urgent as a boy. Kahn is a founding editor of the Cryptologia journal. In 1969, Kahn married Susanne Fiedler; they are now divorced. They have two sons, Oliver and Michael. He attended Bucknell University. After graduation, he worked as a reporter at Newsday for several years. He also served as an editor at the International Herald Tribune in Paris for two years in the 1960s. It was during this period that he wrote an article for the New York Times Magazine about two defectors from the National Security Agency. This article was the origin of his monumental book, The Codebreakers. The Codebreakers comprehensively chronicles the history of cryptography from ancient Egypt to the time of its writing. It is widely regarded as the best account of the history of cryptography up to its publication. Most of the editing, German translating, and insider contributions were from the American World War II cryptographer, Bradford Hardie III. William Crowell, the former deputy director of the National Security Agency, was quoted in Newsday as saying "Before he (Kahn) came along, the best you could do was buy an explanatory book that usually was too technical and terribly dull." Kahn, then a newspaper journalist, was contracted to write a book on cryptology in 1961. He began writing it part-time, at one point quitting his regular job to work on it full-time. The book was to include information on the National Security Agency (NSA), and according to the author James Bamford writing in 1982, the agency attempted to stop its publication, and considered various options, including publishing a negative review of Kahn's work in the press to discredit him. A committee of the United States Intelligence Board concluded that the book was "a possibly valuable support to foreign COMSEC [communications security] authorities" and recommended "further low-key actions as possible, but short of legal action, to discourage Mr. Kahn or his prospective publishers". Kahn's publisher, the Macmillan company, handed over the manuscript to the federal government for review without Kahn's permission on March 4, 1966. Kahn and Macmillan eventually agreed to remove some material from the manuscript, particularly concerning the relationship between the NSA and its British counterpart, the GCHQ. The Codebreakers was a finalist for the non-fiction Pulitzer Prize in 1968.

Seller Inventory # 73465

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Codebreakers; The Story of Secret Writing
• Publisher: The Macmillan Company, New York
• Publication Date: 1968
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: Third printing [stated].
• Condition: Very good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Intelligence