The Secret Lives Codebreakers, Sinclair McKay
The Secret Lives Codebreakers, Sinclair McKay
List: $34.98 | Sale: $24.48
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The Secret Lives Codebreakers
The Men and Women Who Cracked the Enigma Code at Bletchley Park

Author: Sinclair McKay

Narrator: Walter Dixon

Unabridged: 10 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Ascent Audio

Published: 07/02/2013


Synopsis

A remarkable look at day-to-day life of the codebreakers whose clandestine efforts helped win World War II

Bletchley Park looked like any other sprawling country estate. In reality, however, it was the top-secret headquarters of Britain’s Government Code and Cypher School—and the site where Germany’s legendary Enigma code was finally cracked. There, the nation’s most brilliant mathematical minds—including Alan Turing, whose discoveries at Bletchley would fuel the birth of modern computing—toiled alongside debutantes, factory workers, and students on projects of international importance. Until now, little has been revealed about ordinary life at this extraordinary facility. Drawing on remarkable first-hand interviews, The Secret Lives of Codebreakers reveals the entertainments, pastimes, and furtive romances that helped ease the incredible pressures faced by these covert operatives as they worked to turn the tide of World War II.

About Sinclair McKay

Sinclair McKay is a features writer for The Telegraph and The Mail on Sunday. He is also the acclaimed author of the bestselling The Secret Life of Bletchley Park and The Fire and the Darkness.


Reviews

Goodreads review by James on February 02, 2012

First, I need to declare an interest: my grandmother was a codebreaker at Bletchley Park during the war. (Yes, a codebreaker, not a wren or a secretary.) So I didn't read this dispassionately. This is an interesting book because of my family connections, therefore. It takes an interesting subject, an......more

Goodreads review by ALLEN on March 25, 2020

This is a very worthy book and I'm glad I read it. From 1939 to 1945 an aging manor house 50 miles north of London served as the base for a supersecret code-cracking operation designed to decipher military codes -- not just the Germans' "Enigma," though that was the heart of it, but also Japanese an......more

Goodreads review by Boudewijn on March 18, 2020

A collection of tales and experiences of the men and women working in Bletchley Park. Sinclair McKay focuses on the social aspect of the people and does not delve into the technical topics regarding the actual code breaking itself.......more

Goodreads review by Richard on December 05, 2016

Amazing people did amazing work at Bletchley with a bit of technology and a lot of brainwork. And most of them were women! We often forget the vital contributions to the war effort that were made by so many folks who weren't carrying rifles.......more