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An excerpt from the review on StrategyPage.Com"

'Naval historian Ramsay, author of Lusitania: Saga and Myth(2002), gives us the first real biography of Reginald `Blinker' Hall (1870-1943), who ran the Royal Navy's Intelligence Division during the Great War.

'Hall helped developed many then-new intelligence tools, such as traffic analysis, was instrumental in advancing Britain's cryptogrphic capabilities, establishing the famed "Room 40" decrypt operation, and even made use of covert operations and special agents in the furtherance of information gathering. But more importantly, Hall pressed to tie intelligence activities more closely to operational planning, though not always with success. In the course of this work, Ramsay addresses and rebuts several `conspiracy' theories involving Hall, notably that he "set up" the torpedoing of the liner Lusitantia in order to bring the United States into the war. Ramsay alsodiscusses the admiral's important role in the affair of the "Zimmermann Note," which did help bring America into the war, and also takes a look at Hall's longer term influence on the Royal Navy's intelligence services.'

For the balance of the review, see StrategyPage.Com

The nature of espionage is such that it usually takes many years for all of the facts of an event to be known. Nine decades after the First World War, David Ramsay has put together what is the most up-to-date and probably last word on the story of the Zimmerman Telegram, the astonishing German government proposal that helped to draw the United States into the war. The key man in this important chapter of history was Admiral Sir Reginald "Blinker" Hall who must surely rank as one of the great spymasters of history.

Hall, whose excessive blinking due to an eye condition provided him his moniker, became Britain's Director of Naval Intelligence at the start of the war. His Room 40 operation in the Admiralty succeeded in capturing or breaking both the German naval and diplomatic codes providing priceless intelligence for the Allies. This "biography" is in fact a full history of how these achievements came about and how the material was put to use sometimes successfully, sometimes not. It all makes for exciting reading while covering many of the most crucial aspects of the war.

The book abounds with a host of colourful characters from astute diplomats to incredibly obtuse diplomats. There are swashbuckling businessmen, Mexican revolutionaries, anthrax-wielding German agents and a supercilious British naval officer who managed to lose the Battle of Jutland before it ever started. There is a quitessentially eccentric English don-turned-cryptanalyst who believed he worked best from his bath, proceeded to appropriate the one room in the Admiralty that had a bath and then married the secretary who worked with him in his "office" all the while decyphering coded German messages.

Through the war Hall interacted directly with such grandees as Churchill, Balfour and Admirals Fisher, Beatty and Jellicoe. Hall also did more than just see to it that codes were captured or cracked, he ran agents who put the information to use by capturing vital shipments of war supplies to Germany or luring U-Boats to their demise. Hall also knew how to use disinformation to cover his tracks and sources.

At the center of the story is Blinker's careful managing of the most astounding piece of information ever intercepted by the British during the conflict: the Zimmerman Telegram, Germany's astonishing offer to support Mexico in a war against the United States. Hall's patient management of this nugget, helped to draw the U.S. into the war, keep Mexico out and preclude the Japanese from switching sides.

Room 40 proved to be the prototypte for Bletchley Park in the Second World War and the gargantuan U.S. National Security Agency of today. Author David Ramsay has a commanding knowledge of the people who pioneered this field of work. Anyone with an interest in espionage, naval history or the First World War should enjoy this book.

The nature of espionage is such that it usually takes many years for all of the facts of an event to be known if ever. Nine decades after the First World War, David Ramsay has put together what is the most up-to-date and probably last word on the story of the Zimmerman Telegram, the astonishing German government proposal that helped to draw the United States into the war. The key man in this important chapter of history was Admiral Sir Reginald "Blinker" Hall who must surely rank as one of the great spymasters of history.

Hall, whose excessive blinking due to an eye condition provided him his moniker, became Britain's Director of Naval Intelligence at the start of the war. His Room 40 operation in the Admiralty succeeded in capturing or breaking both the German naval and diplomatic codes providing priceless intelligence for the Allies. This "biography" is in fact a full history of how these achievements came about and how the material was put to use sometimes successfully, sometimes not. It all makes for exciting reading while covering many of the most crucial aspects of the war.

The book abounds with a host of colourful characters from astute diplomats to incredibly obtuse diplomats. There are swashbuckling businessmen, Mexican revolutionaries, anthrax-wielding German agents and a supercilious British naval officer who managed to lose the Battle of Jutland before it ever started. There is a quitessentially eccentric English don-turned-cryptanalyst who believed he worked best from his bath, proceeded to appropriate the one room in the Admiralty that had a bath and then married the secretary who worked with him in his "office" all the while decyphering coded German messages.

Through the war Hall interacted directly with such grandees as Churchill, Balfour and Admirals Fisher, Beatty and Jellicoe. Hall also did more than just see to it that codes were captured or cracked, he ran agents who put the information to use by capturing vital shipments of war supplies to Germany or luring U-Boats to their demise. Hall also knew how to use disinformation to cover his tracks and sources.

At the center of the story is Blinker's careful managing of the most astounding piece of information ever intercepted by the British during the conflict: the Zimmerman Telegram, Germany's astonishing offer to support Mexico in a war against the United States. Hall's patient management of this nugget, helped to draw the U.S. into the war, keep Mexico out and preclude the Japanese from switching sides.

Room 40 proved to be the prototypte for Bletchley Park in the Second World War and the gargantuan U.S. National Security Agency of today. Author David Ramsay has a commanding knowledge of the people who pioneered this field of work. Anyone with an interest in espionage, naval history or the First World War should enjoy this book.