I was intrigued by the mention of the "Black Chamber," alias the Cipher Bureau and the predecessor of the NSA. Looking it up, I was further intrigued by mentions of institutional cryptography in Elisabethan England and so on. If I'm interested in this at a purely layman's level (I'm more into the history than the practical implications today) what books or essays would you recommend my reading?
The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication[0] by David Kahn is probably the best book in this area. Be warned it sits on many bookshelves but due to its length few are the number that have finished it, none the less it is an extremely rewarding read. It has oddles and oddles of stories about cryptographers you have never heard of doing awesome things, including the history and personalities behind many of the Black Chambers of Europe.
The story mentions David Kahn's "monumental history of cryptology". The book is The Codebreakers,[1] and IMO is definitely worth reading. It's quite long, perhaps too detailed for most people. But it's filled with little gems. E.g. did you know that Thomas Jefferson invented the "wheel cypher",[2] a very elegant and practical device used in secret communication?
Simon Singh's The Code Book[1] is excellent, if around 10 years old:
The Code Book covers diverse historical topics including the Man in the Iron Mask, Arabic cryptography, Charles Babbage, the mechanisation of cryptography, the Enigma machine, and the decryption of Linear B and other ancient writing systems.
Later sections cover the development of public-key cryptography. Some of this material is based on interviews with participants, including persons who worked in secret at GCHQ.[2]
I was intrigued by the mention of the "Black Chamber," alias the Cipher Bureau and the predecessor of the NSA. Looking it up, I was further intrigued by mentions of institutional cryptography in Elisabethan England and so on. If I'm interested in this at a purely layman's level (I'm more into the history than the practical implications today) what books or essays would you recommend my reading?