Book review: Codebreakers, the Inside Story of Bletchley Park
This is NOT David Kahn's excellent book "The Codebreakers". This is a British volume full of personal stories of thirty people who worked at Bletchley Park or at British code-breaking in the field during WW2. I found it a very touching and personal book. Each person tells their own story in a five- or six-page essay, and the stories cover a whole range of activities, from cryptanalytical work to typing-and-filing to the people who constructed and maintained the physical buildings. As the introduction says, "...few of the events described here were chronicled at the time, and those who worked at Bletchley and its outstations were forbidden to talk or write about it -- almost to remember it. The compiling of this book has rested almost entirely on personal memories; and that is unusual in an account which pretends to any sort of accuracy. Moreover, nobody who worked at Bletchley can now be under 65; several contributors are in their mid-80s. For all of us clear and accurate recollection of highly specialized Top Secret facts across fifty years has been a demanding task, requiring much cross-checking." There are lots of details about how real live wartime code-breaking worked fifty years ago -- details I have seen nowhere else. I recommend this book to any cypherpunk. Codebreakers: the inside story of Bletchley Park. ed. by Francis Harry Hinsley and Alan Stripp. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1994 (hardback issued in 1993). ISBN 0-19-285304-X. US$13.95, at my local bookstore. -- John Gilmore gnu@toad.com -- gnu@cygnus.com -- gnu@eff.org A well-regulated intelligentsia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear books, shall not be infringed.
Let me wholeheartedly echo John's recommendation; this is a terrific book, one from which I learned a great deal. You'll get more out of it, however, the more you already know about the Bletchley Park efforts and the principles on which the Enigma and Lorenz machines operated. In particular, Welchman's "The Hut Six Story" (McGraw Hill, 1982) makes good preparatory reading. Unfortunately, that book has been out of print for some time, but is fairly widely available at used book shops. I had the opportunity to visit Bletchley Park a couple of weeks ago. Most of the original huts are still standing, albiet in various states of disrepair. Walking around the site, knowing something of what went on there in complete secrecy 50 years ago, I could only imagine the sense of urgency and bustle that must have been in the air with 12000 people working (day and night, over three shifts) in a relatively small space. The more I learn about the effort the more impressed I am with the accomplishments that took place there. In particular, the path from basic research to operational functionality was far shorter than one would think possible. After the war, the site was used by GCHQ and by British Telecom as a training center. It was recently saved from redevlopment and is now being converted into museum. Among the projects taking place there is a construction of a working model of the original "Colossus" machine, arguably the first electronic computer ever built (it was used in breaking the Lorenz teleprinter cipher). I believe the site is currently open for visitors on alternate weekends. -matt
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Matt Blaze