CRYPTOGRAPHY

General

O - T

Pendergass, J.T. "Cryptanalytic Use of High-Speed Digital Computing Machines." Cryptologia 17, no. 2 (Apr. 1993): 124-147.

See Collin Burke, "An Introduction to an Historic Computer Document: The 1946 Pendergass Report Cryptanalysis and the Digital Computer," Cryptologia 17, no. 2 (Apr. 1993): 113-123.

Pratt, Fletcher. Secret and Urgent: The Story of Codes and Ciphers. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill, 1939. London: Robert Hale, 1939. GardenCity, NY: Blue Ribbon Books, 1942.

This work is beyond datedness, and there is little reason for anyone to read it today. Nevertheless, it was the first serious attempt at a book-length treatment of the history of cryptology until Kahn's The Codebreakers.

Pröse, Michael. Chiffiermaschinen und Entzifferungsgerate im Zweiten Weltkrieg: Technikgeschichte und informatikhistorische Aspekte. [Cipher Machines and Cryptanalytic Apparatuses in the Second World War: Technical History and Informational-Historical Aspects] Munich: Martin Meidenbauer-Verlagsbuchhandlung, 2006.

Kahn, I&NS 23.2 (Apr. 2008), says that this "book will be especially useful to those threading their way through the complexities of wartime encipherments and solutions."

Reynard, Robert. Secret Code Breaker III: A Cryptanalyst's Handbook. Jacksonville Beach, FL: Smith & Daniels Marketing, 1999. [Includes diskette with computer programs for deciphering secret messages.]

According to Kruh, Cryptologia 24.2, "[t]his useful book contains brief highlights of United States cryptologic history, its secret agents and the codes and ciphers they used."

Rubin, Samuel. The Secret Science of Covert Inks. Port Townsend, WA: Loompanics Unlimited, 1987. [Petersen]

Schmeh, Klaus. Die Welt der gehemein Zeichen: Die faszinierende Geschichte de Verschlüsselung. [The World of Secret Signs: The Fascinating History of Enciphering] Herdecke: W3L-Verlag, 2004.

Kahn, I&NS 23.2 (Apr. 2008), comments that this book is "well-illustrated.... Using little mathematics, he rehearses the solution of of the Japanese PURPLE machine, Enigma, and other well known stories, but also talks about 'the underestimated German cryptanalysts.'"

Schneier, Bruce. Applied Cryptography. New York: John Wiley, 1994.

McGinnis, Cryptolog, Spring 1995: "There are two major parts to the book: a layman's view of cryptography explained in such a manner that just about anyone can understand it; and Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in the C language. The second part is definitely NOT for the uninitiated.... The book is must reading for every cryptographic center of the world."

Singh, Simon. The Code Book : The Evolution of Secrecy from Mary, Queen of Scots to Quantum Cryptography. New York: Doubleday, 1999. London: Fourth Estate, 1999.

Booklist, 1 Sep. 1999, finds that the author mixes "nicely balanced technical detail with vibrant storytelling."

For Cohen, FA 78.6, the author "has done an excellent (and blessedly concise) job of retelling the history of code writing.... [H]e should be particularly commended for the book's graphics, which help explain ideas otherwise too abstruse for the lay reader."

Although he is bothered by the absence of footnotes, Kruh, Cryptologia 24.2, notes that the author combines "a storyteller's sense of drama with a scientist's ... appreciation for clear mathematical descriptions.... Singh offers an interesting, illustrated and up-to-date history of cryptology."

Steury, I&NS 15.4, says that this is "a truly remarkable history of the development of ciphers." The author "introduces some little-known incidents in the history of intelligence and does so in a fresh and interesting way." Unfortunately, "[t]he book is full of errors of fact, each of which is comparatively small, but which, taken together, call into question its general veracity.... [However,] none of the numerous errors it contains amount to a serious distortion of the history of ciphers."

Sinkov, Abraham. Elementary Cryptanalysis. New York: Singer, 1968. [Petersen]

Smart, Nigel. Cryptography: An Introduction. Maidenhead, UK: McGraw-Hill, 2003.

Kruh, Cryptologia 28.1, calls this "a remarkable book that provides the rigorous detail required for advanced cryptography studies, but approaches the subject matter in an accessible style.... [T]his book is a complete introduction to cryptography."

Smith, Francis O.J. The Secret Corresponding Vocabulary; Adapted for Use to Morse's Electro-Magnetic Telegraph: and Also in Conducting Written Correspondence, Transmitted by the Mails, or Otherwise. Portland, ME: Thurston Ilsley, 1845. [Petersen]

Smith, Laurence D. Cryptography: The Science of Secret Writing. New York: Dover Books, 1955. [Petersen]

Stern, Jacques. La Science du secret. [The Science of Secrecy] Pari: Editions Odile Jacob, 1998.

Kahn, I&NS 23.2 (Apr. 2008), praises this work as "an original, well-organized survey of secret communication.... The work is clear; it is to the point; and it requires only a modicum of mathematical knowledge."

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