The American Black Chamber (Bluejacket Books) [Paperback]

Herbert O. Yardley (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bluejacket Books | Publication Date: September 2004

During the 1920s Herbert O. Yardley was chief of the first peacetime cryptanalytic organization in the United States, the ancestor of today's National Security Agency. Funded by the U.S. Army and the Department of State and working out of New York, his small and highly secret unit succeeded in breaking the diplomatic codes of several nations, including Japan. The decrypts played a critical role in U.S. diplomacy. Despite its extraordinary successes, the Black Chamber, as it came to known, was disbanded in 1929. President Hoover's new Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson refused to continue its funding with the now-famous comment, "Gentlemen do not read other people's mail." In 1931 a disappointed Yardley caused a sensation when he published this book and revealed to the world exactly what his agency had done with the secret and illegal cooperation of nearly the entire American cable industry. These revelations and Yardley's right to publish them set into motion a conflict that continues to this day: the right to freedom of expression versus national security. In addition to offering an expose on post-World War I cryptology, the book is filled with exciting stories and personalities.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press; First Edition edition (September 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591149894
• ISBN-13: 978-1591149897
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #349,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Only because of a legal loophole, September 17, 2004

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The American Black Chamber (Bluejacket Books) (Paperback)

It's great to see this classic book back in print. Yardley was, as they say, accustomed to luxury, and when fired in 1929 wrote this book on the breaking of foreign codes by the United States. (His firing is another story, when Hoover's secretary of state refused to continue the funding of the Black Chamber with the comment, Gentlemen do not read other people's mail.) Yardley had found a loophole in the law so that he couldn't be prosecuted, but boy did it annoy the Government. The book was a best seller, and started him or a career as an author. He wrote another four or five books on codes and another best seller called The Education of a Poker Player.

The book is fascinating, well written and filled with stories of stealing code books, beautiful female spies. And better descriptions of how to break codes that I've seen in any of the other books on the history of code breaking (maybe because the codes in the 1920's were simpler minded than later Enigma machines).

This book ties in very well with the new book The Reader of Gentlemens Mail.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yardley Uncovered!, July 23, 2000

By 

Walt Howe - See all my reviews

This review is from: The American Black Chamber (Cryptographic Series) (Paperback)

I read this book first about 40 years ago. Yardley published it after SecState Stimson withdrew funds with the famous "Gentlemen do not read other people's mail." It revealed, the details of breaking Japanese ciphers while they were still in use and caused a political furor. It led to legislation against revealing state secrets, and the book itself was prohibited from re-publication by Act of Congress, apparently now expired.

Yardley was an egotist, and never hesitated to take first person credit for work actually performed by subordinates, according to people who knew him. In any case, it makes a great read!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great inside look at the earliest days of cryptography, July 1, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The American Black Chamber (Cryptographic Series) (Paperback)

Anyone interested in the inner workings of ANY cryptoanalyst needs to read this book. Told in the first person Yardley reveals the amazing amount of genius and hard work cryptography required before the days of calculators and computers. It really is a great read.