Neal Stephenson hacks into the secret histories of nations & the private obsessions of men decrypting with dazzling virtuosity the forces that have shaped the past century. Weaving together the cracking of the Axis codes during WWII & the quest to establish a free South East Asian data haven for digital information in the present Cryptonomicon explores themes of power information secrecy & war in the twentieth century in a gripping & page-turning thriller.