The Emperor's Codes: The Breaking of Japan's Secret Ciphers

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About The Emperor's Codes: The Breaking Of Japan's Secret

Product Description The author of Station X describes how American and Britain's Bletchley Park code-breaking teams worked desperately to break the Japanese codes during World War II, an effort that played a key role in turning the tide of the war in the Pacific theater of World War II. 25,000 first printing. From Library Journal During World War II, British and American cryptographers labored in tight security at Bletchley Park and elsewhere, poring over thousands of intercepted Japanese and German military messages. This fascinating story has been told and retold over the past 15 years as more new information emerges. Smith, a British journalist and author of Station X: Decoding Nazi Secrets, has now expanded on the subject with this well-written account of how the Americans with a great deal of help from British codebreakers cracked the Japanese codes. Smith portrays the sometimes bitter competition between American naval and British military personnel and insists that the British deserve a greater share of the credit than the Americans have been willing to grant. All in all, it makes a great story and one of importance, since many historians believe that through their codebreaking efforts the Allies were able to shorten the war by as much as two years. Libraries should add Smith's book to other recent works, including Stephen Budiansky's Battle of Wits (LJ 9/15/00) and Leo Marks's Between Silk and Cyanide (LJ 4/15/99). Recommended for most collections. Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist The Allied efforts that led to the breaking of Germany's Enigma code have been well publicized. Less well known but equally critical to the war effort was the combined British-American success at breaking the various Japanese codes. Smith, a journalist who has worked for the London Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph, writes a real-life thriller that unfolds like a classic spy story. The heroes here are not dashing secret agents; instead, they are seemingly fanatically dedicated and patient plodders who pore over the myriad possibilities involved in code breaking. Smith shows how the failure to fully understand Japanese cable traffic led to the disaster at Pearl Harbor. He proceeds to illustrate the manner in which Allied cooperation in code breaking led to future successes in the Pacific, including the critical Battle of Midway. This is an engrossing and exciting recounting of an obscure but important facet of World War II. Jay Freeman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved About the Author Michael Smith has worked for the London Sunday Times, the Financial Times and the Daily Telegraph. His books include Foley: the Spy who Saved 10,000 Jews and the #1 bestselling Station X.