The journalist and war historian links tales of high courage ashore, at sea and in the air to the work of the brilliant boffins at home, battling the enemy’s technology. Most of the strivings, adventures and sacrifices of spies, Resistance, Special Forces and even of the code-breakers were wasted, Hastings says, but a fraction was so priceless that no nation begrudged lives and treasure spent in the pursuit of jewels of knowledge. The book tells stories of high policy and human drama, illuminating the fantastic machinations of secret war.