Yardley's Ace: The Making and Breaking of American Military Intelligence

by Michael McKinley

This is the true story of Herbert O. Yardley, a small-town college dropout who worked his way up through the US State Department to become the nation’s most infamous codebreaker, whose work helped found the NSA—and who revealed all his secrets in a bestselling book.

America’s 1917 entry to World War I exposed the country’s lack of military intelligence. It had to catch up with the world’s major players, and fast. Herbert Yardley, who’d learned his life lessons at the poker table, knew he could apply his analytical skills to the field of cryptology. Given the chance to lead MI-8, the first unit dedicated to military intelligence, he was soon intercepting and deciphering classified diplomatic cables—and helping the Allies to victory.

Yardley had been dealt an ace, but with the war over MI-8 was disbanded. Embittered and convinced—correctly—that cryptanalysis would only become more important as rampant nationalism took hold of the world, Yardley refused to back down. His work as an independent codebreaker would lead him to the bright lights of Hollywood, the brutal battle for China, the front pages of national newspapers—and to accusations of treason…

Genres: History, Nonfiction

62 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 3, 2018

About the author

Michael McKinley is an author, filmmaker, journalist, and screenwriter. A Vancouver native, he was educated at the University of British Columbia, and then at the University of Oxford. As a journalist, he has written for publications on both sides of the Atlantic, and has won national newswriting awards. He has produced several television shows for CNN, History, and the CBC, and is the author of several books, among them Codebreakers: The Secret Intelligence Unit that Changed the Course of the First World War (with James Wyllie) and Finding Jesus: Faith. Fact. Forgery, the companion book to the CNN TV series he created with David Gibson. He lives in New York City.
https://www.amazon.com/Michael-McKinl...

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[James M Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read

Short and to the point. I really enjoyed it. It probably could have used a little more detail but was a quick fun read.

[Doyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had no idea when I purchased this item it was a "Kindle single", which translates to an academic term paper. It was basically a synopsis of Yardley's endeavors etc.

[Kevin Tahan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Surprisingly succinct

Very informative and easy to read. There's not a.lot of soul to it, though, kinda like reading Cliffs Notes. If you're into the condensed history of obscure figures this title is for you.