Books like The American magic by Ronald Lewin

David McCullough’s *1776* chronicles the human drama surrounding the American Revolution’s pivotal year, tracing ordinary soldiers, notable leaders, and British forces as they shape the fate of the fledgling nation.

Further developments in the secret history of the Enigma code machine which was the single most important intelligence advantage the Allies had over the Axis. Ultra was the British code word for messages relating to Enigma, and meant ""ultra top secret."" The basic story of the British cryptoanalysts and the Enigma is told in F. W. Winterbotham's The Ultra Secret', the present book expands upon strategical uses of the broken German code in various battles. The Enigma was first developed by a private German firm in the early Twenties and was eventually adopted by the German military. When the Poles caught wind of the device, they managed to build several copies, and when Poland fell they shipped one to the French and two to England. Throughout the war, the British trembled over the possibility that the Germans might find out that their enemy had long been in possession of their secret radio codes (the Japanese Purple machine, an Enigma variant, had already been broken by the Americans). On the other hand, possession of Ultra gave some commanders overconfidence at the wrong times, especially during Operation Market Garden, when they refused to believe their own intelligence that the Germans had massed armor at Arnheim, and as a result our troops were slaughtered. The drawback of Ultra was that it led Allied commanders to accept at face value the troop and battle strengths that German commanders mis-represented to their superiors so that they could get more materiel. . . . Revealing, but too dense for wide readership.

A revealing look at the clandestine efforts of the Office of Strategic Services, how spies, saboteurs and resistance fighters shaped the outcome of World War II.

A thriller about a World War II spy network and their desperate efforts to protect their agents from capture or death.

Downfall uncovers how American leaders discovered in summer 1945 that their blockade, bombardment and planned invasion strategy had failed, as Japan prepared a massive defense on Kyushu, forcing a final clash of arms.

During World War II, British electronic intelligence and cryptography teams worked to break the Enigma code, shaping the outcome of the war.

"cracking stuff . . . vivid and hitherto unknown details."-Sunday Times (London) The complete untold story of the cracking of the infamous Nazi code Most histories of the cracking of the elusive Enigma code focus on the work done by the codebreakers at Bletchley Park, Britain's famous World War II counterintelligence station. In this fascinating account, however, we are told, for the first time, the hair-raising stories of the heroic British and American sailors, spies, and secret agents who put their lives on the line to provide the codebreakers with the materials they needed. Noted British journalist Hugh Sebag-Montefiore tracked down many of the surviving players in the Enigma drama, and these witnesses-some of them speaking on record for the first time-provide unforgettable firsthand accounts of the courageous men and women who faced death in order to capture vital codebooks from sinking ships and snatch them from under the noses of Nazi officials. In addition to these gripping stories, we learn fascinating new details about the genesis of the code and the feverish activities at Bletchley. Enigma is a spellbinding account of the brilliant feat of decryption that turned the tide of World War II.