About the Author

Stephen Budiansky is the author of seventeen books about military history, intelligence and espionage, science, the natural world, and other subjects. His most recent books are Code Warriors: NSA’s Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet Union and Mad Music: Charles Ives, the Nostalgic Rebel.

Budiansky's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, the New York Times magazine and op-ed pages, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, The Economist, and many other publications. He is a member of the editorial board of Cryptologia, the scholarly journal of cryptology and intelligence history, and is on the American Heritage Dictionary’s Usage Panel. He lives on a small farm in Loudoun County, Virginia.

Reviews

Praise for Stephen Budiansky's Blackett's War

Recommended Reading, Scientific American

“A fascinating portrayal of how science contributed to winning the war in Europe.”
—The Wall Street Journal
 
“A terrific story, exciting, illuminating, well told.”
—Dallas Morning News
 
“Lively and enlightening. . . . Budiansky knowingly and entertainingly re-creates the almost constant struggle between hidebound military traditionalists and the clever civilians who saved them.”
—The Washington Post
 
“Engaging. . . . A finely wrought and well-sourced social history of elite science’s wartime mobilization. . . . A wonderful revisionist history of how intelligence derived from Bletchley Park’s breakthroughs combined with Blackett’s operational research to bypass and destroy the Nazi Wolfpacks.”
—Fortune

“Budiansky has mastered the difficulties of the story, making it very readable and compelling . . . an important work.”
—New York Journal of Books

“A fascinating and skilful blend of naval warfare, science, and British social history with a richly diverse cast of characters.”
—World War II Magazine

“Little-known story of the Allied scientists whose unconventional thinking helped thwart the Nazi U-boats in World War II . . . An excellent, well-researched account . . . an engrossing work rich in insights and anecdotes.”
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“The little known history of a linchpin in the Allies’ victory over the Nazis: Patrick Blackett. . . . For military history and science fans alike.”
—Publishers Weekly