What do you think?
The American Magic: Codes, Ciphers, and the Defeat of Japan
The American Codes, Ciphers, and the Defeat of Japan
- GenresHistory
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
About the author
Ronald Lewin
17 books7 followersRonald Lewin was a British military historian, radio producer and publishing editor who has wrote several books on World War II and several of the WWII commanders like Lieut-General Vyvyan Pope, Montgomery and Rommel.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 9, 2018
Again, the 'date started' function isn't working in GoodReads.
The American Magic is about the U.S. government's decipherment and employment of the Japanese 'Purple' code during World War II in particular and about the use and decipherment of Axis codes in general ('Enigma', 'Ultra' et cetera). Roughly chronological, the book begins with a very brief history of Anglo-American codebreaking starting with World War I, gives a sketchy overview of the principles involved, then gets into the historical account proper beginning with Pearl Harbor and ending with the Japanese surrender. The text is usually dry and matter of fact, but the authors does go out of his way to put in some justified digs against General Douglas McArthur. The book concludes with a discussion of the intelligence contribution to the debate on employing atomic weapons.
Father was an Army cryptanalyst attached to the Navy during the invasions of Sicily and Leyte.
The American Magic is about the U.S. government's decipherment and employment of the Japanese 'Purple' code during World War II in particular and about the use and decipherment of Axis codes in general ('Enigma', 'Ultra' et cetera). Roughly chronological, the book begins with a very brief history of Anglo-American codebreaking starting with World War I, gives a sketchy overview of the principles involved, then gets into the historical account proper beginning with Pearl Harbor and ending with the Japanese surrender. The text is usually dry and matter of fact, but the authors does go out of his way to put in some justified digs against General Douglas McArthur. The book concludes with a discussion of the intelligence contribution to the debate on employing atomic weapons.
Father was an Army cryptanalyst attached to the Navy during the invasions of Sicily and Leyte.
May 9, 2025
Not as gripping as fiction😑I don’t think this is my type of book so maybe my review isn’t helpful but there was just a lot of archaic language for no reason which I don’t love (who uses whence??!!?) I think the book was pretty good just a tadddd hard to follow when you are not versed in all things WW2 and code breaking
February 18, 2020
A very good narrative on the background and the use of deciphered Japanese diplomatic codes (MAGIC) and IJN/IJA codes (Ultra) to the American advantages during WW2.
Although lacking of technical details, the author writes of Magic/Ultra intelligence at both strategic and tactical levels, plus his critical insights on the successful, as well as failed, use of them.
A good read for the topic of WW2 code breaking.
Although lacking of technical details, the author writes of Magic/Ultra intelligence at both strategic and tactical levels, plus his critical insights on the successful, as well as failed, use of them.
A good read for the topic of WW2 code breaking.
September 13, 2013
This book is about code breaking in World War II.
Read, in chapter 8, about the difficulty breaking the Japanese Army Code. See pages 196-199.
Read, in chapter 8, about the difficulty breaking the Japanese Army Code. See pages 196-199.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews