Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boat Codes, 1939–1945, Revised Edition - Softcover

Kahn, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1591148073 ISBN 13: 9781591148074

Publisher: Naval Institute Press, 2012

Synopsis

Seizing the Enigma tells the thrilling story of the Royal Navy's battle to crack the Germans' supposedly unbreakable U-boat Enigma code, which would allow the vital Allied convoys in the North Atlantic to be routed away from Dönitz's wolfpacks. This battle was fought both on shore and at sea: by an assortment of scientists, chess champions and linguists, including Alan Turing, the father of the modern computer, who struggled to crack Enigma at Bletchley Park, and in the Atlantic by sailors and intelligence officers, such as Ian Fleming, the future creator of James Bond, who undertook dangerous and often fatal missions to seize the essential encryption keys and Enigma machine components from Kriegsmarine surface ships and U-boats. Kahn expertly brings this unparalleled intelligence operation to life in this revised paperback edition of his classic book.

About this title

About the Author:

David Kahn holds a PhD in history from Oxford University. He worked for thirty years as a journalist in New York and Paris, and taught intelligence courses at Yale and Columbia. In 2002, he was scholar-in-residence at the National Security Agency in Washington, D.C. His massive history of cryptology, The Codebreakers, is still considered the standard work on the subject.

Review:

"[Kahn's] 1997 history of cryptology The Codebreakers is regarded as the seminal work on the subject. One senses that in the future Seizing the Enigma will be regarded in the same vein. Kahn tells a long and technically demanding story with all the skills of a professional journalist. He deftly mixes intricate accounts of the workings of the Enigma machines themselves and their accompanying codes with useful pen portraits of the principal characters involved...an absorbing and thoroughly well documented account." -- Naval Books of the Year column in Warship, 2013

"The book remains a highly recommended account with a wealth of materials." -- Naval History Book Reviews, Naval Historical Foundation

About this edition

• Publisher: Naval Institute Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1591148073
• ISBN 13: 9781591148074
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416