The Reader of Gentlemen's Mail Herbert O. Yardley and American Intelligence
| Author/creator | Kahn, David, 1930- Author |
| Format | Electronic |
| Publication Info | New Haven : Yale University Press |
| Description | 368 p. ill 09.250 x 06.130 in. |
| Supplemental Content | Full text available from Ebook Central - Academic Complete |
| Subjects |
| Summary | Annotation "One of the most colorful 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 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, 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. And he asserts that Yardley's disclosures not only did not hurt but actually helped American codebreaking during World War II."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
| Access restriction | Available only to authorized users. |
| Technical details | Mode of access: World Wide Web |
| Genre/form | Electronic books. |
| LCCN | 2003060029 |
| ISBN | 9780300098464 |
| ISBN | 0300098464 (Trade Cloth) Active Record |
| Standard identifier# | 9780300098464 |
| Stock number | 00029174 |