Customer comments on this selection.
 Not For Programmers
This was recommended to me as the authoritative and best introduction to cryptography for anyone interested in Encryption. I'm a programmer, and that particular recommendation didn't take my profession into account. Apparently.
This is a history book. Sure, I expected to read some historical context. I expected to learn that the first encryption techniques were simple dictionary ciphers. I expected to learn about Da Vinci's reverse writing. I expected to learn about rotating keys and the Enigma machine.
But that's not what I found in this book. This book exemplifies why I hated history in school. This is a book for the type of pseudo-intellectual who prefers to learn about people who know something special, rather than learning something special, themselves. Seriously, how can anyone read a book this big about a subject (cryptography) that provides them with absolutely no usable knowledge on that topic. Nothing. Nada. Zip.
 Set the Bar
This is an astonising piece of work. It came out just when books on some previously hidden areas of WWII intelligence such as the Double Cross counterintelligence effort and the MAGIC Sigint system were starting to appear in print. Given that SIGINT/COMINT/ELINT were/are among the closest held areas of intelligence, what the author managed to do at that time is nothing short of breathtaking. From outlining what codes and cyphers are and what makes them difficult to read, to a chapter and verse depiction of the practical results of wartime codebreaking, the author covers the waterfront. Has not been outdone to date. "The Puzzle Palace", for example, is strictly junior varsity compared to Kahn's work. This book belongs in the library of every student of military affairs, intelligence and foreign affairs.
Outstanding History of Cryptography up to 1965
This massive, exhaustively-researched book by David Kahn examines the HISTORY of cryptography from the dawn of civilization to the darkness of the Cold War. He starts an introductory bow to capture readers' attention with the Magic story (American decryption of Japanese WWII codes). Then, Kahn traces the cryptologic developments from the early most rudimentary monalphabetic substitution systems to polyalphabetics, codes, transposition ciphers, enciphering devices (e.g. checkerboards, grille ciphers, one-time pads, one-time tapes, ciphering cylinders, voice modulators, etc.), deciphering systems, and all the governmental organizations devoted to enciphering and deciphering activities.
His investigations cover Babylonian cuneiform, Roman cipher systems (e.g. the famed Caesar cipher), an entire host of Renaissance cryptographers and systems, Englightenment-era black chambers, British amateur contributions (e.g. Playfair cipher), American Civil War transposition systems, telegraphic codes, French military ciphers, and the communication cipher used during the Dreyfus affair.
The book then devotes about 2/3 of the book to modern cryptographic systems used from 1914 to 1965 (the book was published in 1967). Some of the WWI-era subjects treated in this section are Britain's WWI Room 40, the unusual ADFGVX German cipher, WWI battlefield cipher and code systems. Between the wars, Kahn describes the American Black Chamber, the advent of rotor machines (e.g. Engima, Hagelin, Hebern), the rise of mathematical/statistical analysis, the US Magic decryption program, the extraordinarily successful Soviet cipher systems, and quite a thorough examination of all WWII-era cryptographic activities.
The last few chapters of the book are devoted to describing the NSA, the chimeric search for Shakespearean hidden messages, pigpen ciphers, Prohibition-era rumrunners, numbers runners, visual telegraphy, the decryption of Linear B/hieroglyphics, potential SETI coding systems, and a very short brief on DES.
Bar none, this is the one book to own on cryptographic history up to 1965. (This is not a cryptology textbook, however.) Kahn's writing style and subjects are always engaging and packed full with comprehensive information. Kahn reveals that almost every cipher system ever invented (with the significant exception of one-time pads/tapes) has been broken - most surprisingly quickly. This is a lesson that any organization using radio (including mobil phones) and public facilities (e.g. internet, PSTN) to communicate definitely ought to realize. This is a must read for anyone interested in cryptologic history. Outstanding!
For curious on criptography history
Big book. Great, as expected. The very first part of the book seems quite separated from the rest. It appears as a long introduction, probably too much detailed. The rest of the book is written in clean english understandable also for non mother tongue readers.
Required reading
Kahn's inspired account of codebreaking and cryptanalysis from ancient to modern is a must read for anybody who wishes to understand history, technology, warfare -- nearly every facet of life which depends on encrypted communications and their vulnerability. His gripping narrative will suck you in and hold you until the last page.
The Codebreakers is accessible to the lay reader without skimping on broad technical fundamentals. While cryptography is an oft written-about topic today, Kahn's enduring masterpiece is the ne plus ultra to which all others aspire.
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