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Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boats Codes, 1939-1943 Hardcover – January 1, 1991

by David Kahn (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 345 ratings
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Focuses on the personalities involved in British efforts to break the German U-boat codes
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    16 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1991
  5. ISBN-10
    0395427398
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0395427392
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

F.W. Winterbotham's The Ultra Secret (LJ 2/1/75) was the first book to reveal how the Allies broke the main German code system in World War II. Many books, such as Ron Lewin's Ultra Goes To War (LJ 12/15/78), have since expanded upon the process and its impact on the war effort. Kahn, a noted historian of codebreaking, provides a specialized part of the story not previously detailed. He underscores the strategic importance of submarine warfare in the Atlantic, giving a balanced account of the ultimate importance of codebreaking in that arena. High drama at sea seizing German codebooks and equipment and analytical genius ashore were essential. Kahn describes both of these matching efforts expertly. Informed laypersons and specialists will find this book valuable and intriguing. Recommended.
- George H. Siehl, Library of Congress
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (January 1, 1991)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 16 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0395427398
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0395427392
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.32 pounds
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 345 ratings

About the author

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David Kahn

David Kahn

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David Kahn, a recently visiting historian at the National Security Agency, is the world's leading expert on the history of cryptology, and the author of Hitler's Spies, Seizing the Enigma, and Kahn on Codes, as well as articles in numerous popular and technical journals. He holds a Ph.D. in Modern History from Oxford. An editor at Newsday, he lives in Great Neck, New York.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
345 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

James F. Clark
5.0 out of 5 stars WWII’s best kept secret revealed
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2024
Verified Purchase
A deep dive into the history, mechanics and results of successes of top secret Allie’s’ tapping their top talent to unravel Hitler’s communication encryption system. Thoroughly researched and explained.
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Dig
4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent reporting of history.
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2023
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An excellent reporting of history. I knew of the Enigma and Allied successes in breaking the German and Japanese codes. I did not understand the mechanizations of Enigma or the strategies used to break the codes. I found this interesting, but got bogged down some by rotors, voltage connections, and such. I do believe breaking the German and Japanese codes helped the Allies win WWII, but it’s importance does not compare with American manufacturing might, Russian doggedness, and British naval power. The strategies and equipment used by the code breakers were the genesis of computers and computer programming. That is perhaps their greatest contribution.
2 people found this helpful
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MLK
5.0 out of 5 stars History Record
Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2017
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As a history student, I love the suspense here. WWII was the classic "cat and mouse" game. Rommel's success in North Africa was more about his intelligence team than anything else. When he was no longer able to read allied messages, he was just another General Officer that had to think his strategy differently in battle planning. It is easy to be the "Desert Fox" when you can read your enemies' message. The cracking of the Enigma was one of the greatest successes of WWII and help the allies defeat Nazi Germany. The Midway battle was successful because the US cracked the Japanese JN -25 code. This is a simplification of the book. The reading can be challenging at times; however, it is a great read for us historians. Knowledge is power!
4 people found this helpful
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Jeannette Purdy
5.0 out of 5 stars engaging perspective of the war
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2009
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Reading Seizing the Enigma was for me a most enjoyable experience. The story is one that deserves to be told, it's a testimony that many disciplines coming together can creatively solve problems that seem insurmountable. The writing is steady and calm, but the underlying urgency is obvious. I love non-fiction for the depth you get about a subject, but to top it off, this one has a plot, a beginning, middle and end, and accounts from several perspectives and though it's a huge story, you're drawn into the details seen only by the actual participants whose tales are meticulously retold by David Kahn. Nice way to learn some 20th century history as it intersects with scientific and technological advances motivated by sheer human will. I hope we can tell a similar story about our age, sixty years later.
2 people found this helpful
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Daryl Carpenter
3.0 out of 5 stars Some fascinating parts, but gets bogged down in detail
Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2020
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It's not exactly a secret that breaking the German Enigma codes was a key element of the Allied victory in World War II. Although every history of the Battle of the Atlantic at least pays the subject lip service, this is probably the most detailed work on the subject I've read...for better or worse.

Although I didn't love this book as most reviewers did, it still has some very strong points. The sections describing the interwar evolution of the Enigma machine and the early attempts at codebreaking are excellently written, with a special focus on Polish developments in the field, an aspect of the Enigma story which has largely been lost to history. There are some especially interesting asides scattered throughout that I haven't read elsewhere, and accounts of every capture where naval Enigma materials were captured. If you're interested in cryptography, this book goes into a great amount of detail on how everything worked. There's even an entire chapter on B-Dienst, which again, I haven't seen covered in much detail elsewhere.

This might sound odd coming from someone who's read Richard Rhodes's "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" five times, but I think David Kahn may have gone a step too far in terms of detail. He spends an enormous amount of time describing the inner workings of the Enigma machine, the enciphering and deciphering processes, codebreaking techniques, the specialized equipment used at Bletchley Park, and so on. Every character, however minor, is introduced with a rundown of their career up to that point, every ship and submarine receives details of its armament, range, displacement, maximum speed, and prior exploits, the longitude, and latitude of every waypoint a convoy passes is described, etc. Quite frankly, it gets exhausting after a while, and the somewhat dry writing style doesn't help either. I get the impression that Mr. Kahn is a better historian than he is a writer.

This is a somewhat difficult book to review. It's fascinating in drips and drabs and frequently enlightening, but not terribly compellingly written and rather bogged down with details that, depending on your area of interest, might be completely extraneous. My grandfather was a cryptanalyst during the war, so I'd imagine that if he were looking down on me right now, he'd be disappointed that I struggled with large chunks of it.
12 people found this helpful
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sibrear
4.0 out of 5 stars very comprehensive overview of the enigma effectiveness
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2023
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A compelling read for one interested in the impact of code breaking during World War II. The impact of code breaking on allied efforts was profound.
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Meigui
5.0 out of 5 stars Solving a fantastic puzzle
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2023
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If you are into detail, this is the book for you: steps in solutions, resulting battles, secrets exposed . I could only wish the author had broadened the study to give at least a glimpse of the thousands of 'ordinary' men and women involved. A special conclusion was examining the cultural\military mindsets that affected Allied vs German belief in Enigma and intelligence.
2 people found this helpful
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Leon
5.0 out of 5 stars I learned quite a bit from this book
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2022
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Most notably the role of Polish crypto analysts in the early part of the war. But I would have liked a bit more detail about the role of NCR in Dayton, Ohio. My understanding is that it was significant but I have not found much information about it
2 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Mystery explained
Reviewed in Canada on June 12, 2023
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Interesting story full of facts and people who unraveled the Enigma code and saved the world.
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Ken Vanden branden
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book, had some boring bparts, but overal: great!
Reviewed in the Netherlands on September 14, 2016
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Great book, had some boring bparts, but overal: great! The Polish people got some credit in this. I really loved the anecdotes around "some famous book writer, no spoilers". This book also taught me a thing or two about encryption in a very easy-going, fun manner.
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franco adami
4.0 out of 5 stars libro utile a chiarire ulteriormente l'epopea di Bletchley Park
Reviewed in Italy on May 4, 2016
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il libro ripercorre le fasi della astuta lotta che l'inghilterra ha intrapreso contro la germania nazista per impossessarsi dei codici enigma, il racconto risulta scorrevole e agile e utile per implementare le conoscenze sull' epopea di Bletchley park, non fornisce però nuovi elementi rispetto a quelli già noti e magistralmente narrati in altri precedenti libri a riguardo.
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T. Malcolm
5.0 out of 5 stars The best boook on Enigma
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 16, 2013
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I've read quite a few on this subject over the years and I would recommend this one as being one of the most readable and well researched. As expected of David Kahn it is phenomenally detailed and if minutae is what you look for this is the one to buy. The book does not drop into the easy-to-fall-into trap of British self congratulation (might be because he isn't British) I've seen in other publications but nevertheless pays due respect to the contributions from the main characters involved at the time.
For those whose interest is in this fascinating subject I would highly recommend it.
One person found this helpful
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Gary Wiseman
4.0 out of 5 stars The Secret War: Enigma!
Reviewed in Canada on December 11, 2022
Verified Purchase
Deep behind the successes of WWII, lies the work of many, many unsung heroes in the world of espionage and intelligence. It is a step too far to claim that intelligence won the war but it certainly reduced it's cost in lives and resources. Without a doubt it shortened the conflict by months, many, many months! With, or without a military background, this book will keep you wake and out of the way!
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