The Man Who Broke Purple: The Life of Colonel William F. Friedman

by Ronald William Clark

s/t: Who Deciphered the Japanese Code in World War II

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, Espionage, World War II

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Ronald William Clark was a British author of biography, fiction and non-fiction. He was educated King's College School. In 1933, he embarked on a career as a journalist, and served as a war correspondent during the Second World War after being turned down for military service on medical grounds. As a war correspondent, Clark landed on Juno Beach with the Canadians on D-Day. He followed the war until the end, and remained in Germany to report on the major War Crimes trials. After his return to Britain he embarked upon a career as an author.

Reviews

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic book. I do not know how accurate Clark's portrayal is but Friedman really comes across in this book.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

After having visited Fabyan’s home and museum in Geneva Il. I wanted to learn more about the Friedmans and their story. While this book isn’t necessarily riveting drama it is certainly interesting and informative. If you’re a fan of “The Imitation Game” film or interested in the history of code breaking history, I recommend checking it out

[Peter Gandrud · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story of code and Purple. Excellent book. I recommend book, Ronald Clark was marvelous , very good writer of The man who broke Purple.


I recommend this book. Excellent story line with world war II as target. I am pleased with this fantastic book.

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very technical, not a lot of meat. Read as a companion to Woman Who Smashed Codes

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my all time favorite stories. I read it quite a few years ago, having chosen it during a meander through the biography section of the New Kensington, PA library. The NSA website has a short version of one part of his life, but the whole is much more interesting. How he became interested in codes in the first place, and what he did to bother Western Union, and how he came to work for various branches of the US government through both the first and second World Wars is a story of almost mythic proportions. This man is right up there with the other famous code breakers of the 20th Century, but he is not nearly as well known, perhaps because he didn't devise a computer in the process. It is somewhat ironic that a man who devoted his life to revealing secrets had all his papers and books secreted away by the US when he died.