Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
One of the most colourful and controversial figures in American intelligence, Herbert O. Yardley (1889-1958) gave America its best form of information, but his fame rests more on his indiscretions than on his achievements. In this highly readable biography, a premier historian of military intelligence tells Yardley's story and evaluates his impact on the American intelligence community. Yardley established the nation's first codebreaking agency in 1917, and his solutions helped the United States win a major diplomatic victory at the 1921 disarmament conference. But when his unit was closed in 1929 because "gentlemen do not read each other's mail", Yardley wrote a best-selling memoir that introduced - and disclosed - codemaking and codebreaking to the public. David Kahn describes the vicissitudes of Yardley's career, including his work in China and Canada, offers a capsule history of American intelligence up to World War I, and gives a short course in classical codes and ciphers. He debunks the accusations that the publication of Yardley's book caused Japan to change its codes and ciphers and that Yardley traitorously sold his solutions to Japan.
Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
Previews available in: English
Subjects
World War, 1914-1918, Cryptography, Cryptographers, BiographyShowing 1 featured edition. View all 1 editions?
Edition | Availability |
---|---|
1
The Reader of Gentlemen's Mail: Herbert O. Yardley and the Birth of American Codebreaking
February 9, 2004, Yale University Press
Hardcover
in English
0300098464 9780300098464
|
aaaa
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
Book Details
First Sentence
"In 1890, the center of population of the United States moved into Indiana."
The Physical Object
ID Numbers
Community Reviews (0)
Feedback?History
- Created April 30, 2008
- 11 revisions
Wikipedia citation
×CloseCopy and paste this code into your Wikipedia page. Need help?
July 29, 2014 | Edited by ImportBot | import new book |
July 28, 2014 | Edited by ImportBot | import new book |
June 13, 2013 | Edited by Dusker | merge authors |
January 21, 2012 | Edited by ImportBot | import new book |
April 30, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from amazon.com record |