The first comprehensive history of secret communication from ancient times to the threshold of outer space.

A few words -- One day of MAGIC -- The pageant of cryptology. The first 3,000 years -- The rise of the West -- On the origin of a species -- The era of the black chambers -- The contribution of the dilettantes -- Crises of the Union -- The professor, the soldier, and the man on Devil's Island -- Room 40 -- A war of intercepts -- Two Americans -- Secrecy for sale -- Duel in the ether : the Axis -- Duel in the ether : neutrals and Allies -- Censors, scramblers, and spies -- The scrutable orientals -- PYCCKAR KPNNTONOTNR -- N.S.A. -- Sideshows. The anatomy of cryptology -- Heterogeneous impulses -- Rumrunners, businessmen, and makers of non-secret codes -- Ciphers in the past tense -- The pathology of cryptoloy -- Paracryptology. Ancestral voices -- Messages from outer space.