Code Girls
The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II
Recruited by the U.S. Army and Navy from small towns and elite colleges, more than ten thousand women served as codebreakers during World War II. While their brothers and boyfriends took up arms, these women moved to Washington and learned the meticulous work of code-breaking. Their efforts shortened the war, saved countless lives, and gave them access to careers previously denied to them. A strict vow of secrecy nearly erased their efforts from history; now, through dazzling research and interviews with surviving code girls, bestselling author Liza Mundy brings to life this riveting and vital story of American courage, service, and scientific accomplishment.
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Creators
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Awards
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Release date
October 10, 2017 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781478922711
- File size: 405432 KB
- Duration: 14:04:38
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- Lexile® Measure: 1050
- Text Difficulty: 6-9
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Reviews
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AudioFile Magazine
Erin Bennett splendidly narrates this account of the many women who--as cryptographers, stenographers, mathematicians, and linguists--contributed greatly to the Allies' victory in WWII. Their ability to decipher/decode German and Japanese military and diplomatic communications in a relatively short period of time provided vital intelligence that was key to beating back and ultimately defeating the Axis nations. Bennett sounds like a natural in all aspects of her narration. Her voice is pleasing to the ear, clear in pronunciation, and suitably expressive. She makes what is doubtless a well-scripted reading seem effortless and unrehearsed. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine -
Publisher's Weekly
August 7, 2017
Journalist Mundy (The Richer Sex) strikes historical gold in this appealing tale of wartime intelligence work. As the U.S. headed to war in 1941, two things became clear to military leaders: victory depended on successful code breaking and they didn’t have nearly enough people working on it. The solution was for the Army and Navy to recruit women for cryptanalysis. Tens of thousands of women—mostly college students and teachers with an affinity for math, science, and foreign languages—answered the call for this top-secret work. Drawing from recently declassified National Security Agency files, Mundy rescues these women’s stories from anonymity and obscurity. She vividly describes the intricacies of code breaking while weaving in crucial historical information about the war and women’s participation in it. Reflecting her contention that successful cryptanalysis is a collective endeavor, Mundy utilizes individual women’s activities to illustrate her points. Though many women flit across the pages, some, such as Dot Braden of the Army Signal Intelligence Service, appear throughout, giving the story its emotional center. These intelligent and independent women faced dismissive attitudes from their male peers, yet they persevered. Mundy persuasively shows that recognizing women’s contributions to the war effort is critical to understanding the Allied victory. Agent: Todd Shuster, Aevitas Creative Management. -
Library Journal
Starred review from August 1, 2017
Mundy (The Richer Sex) provides a history of female crytographers during World War II. At the outset of the war, cryptanalysis, the science of deciphering coded messages, had barely emerged and both allies and foes outpaced the United States. With young men galvanized to serve overseas, women were actively recruited on the home front. Initially, this effort focused on students from the Seven Sisters colleges but eventually expanded to include women from across the country who demonstrated an aptitude for math and discretion. These women were ensconced at Arlington Hall, a former girls' school in Virginia, which became the headquarters of the U.S. Army's Signal Intelligence Service (SIS). Codebreaking was excruciatingly complex work and had urgent consequences. Enemy movements were ascertained and ships sunk based on information relayed over the wires. The women were sworn to secrecy about the nature and gravity of their work and for years remained reticent to speak about it, even to family members. Mundy teases out their stories based on extensive interviews with the surviving codebreakers. VERDICT Similar to Nathalia Holt's The Rise of the Rocket Girls and Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, this is indispensable and fascinating history. Highly recommended for all readers.--Barrie Olmstead, Sacramento P.L.
Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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Kirkus
Starred review from July 15, 2017
A previously untold history of the American women who served as codebreakers during World War II.When Hidden Figures--both the book and the movie it inspired--reached popular audiences, many Americans were surprised to learn that women played an instrumental role at NASA in the 1960s. That women have long been excluded from professional and intellectual life is well-known. That women have, during times of national crisis or fervor, bypassed that exclusion has not been so well-known. During the war, writes former Washington Post reporter Mundy (The Richer Sex: How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners Is Transforming Sex, Love and Family, 2012, etc.), some 11,000 women served the war effort by working as codebreakers. Almost 70 percent of the Army's codebreaking force was female, and at least 80 percent of the Navy's. In addition to breaking enemy codes, they also tested American codes, ran complicated office machines, built libraries of intelligence, and worked as translators. At first, the military recruited only college-educated women strong in science, math, or languages; later, as the field rapidly expanded, many thousands more women were welcomed. Their jobs were intensely difficult, stimulating, and vital to the war effort. Because of the sensitive nature of their work, they told anyone who asked (including their own families) that they were doing low-level office tasks. Mundy is a fine storyteller, effectively shaping a massive amount of raw research into a sleek, compelling narrative. She had access to boxes of Army and Navy memos, reports, and internal histories, and she also interviewed some of the women who served as codebreakers. Unfortunately, she only briefly touches on the African-American women who worked on codes and never mentions the Navajo Code Talkers who served the same effort. Despite those omissions and the occasional cliche, the book is a winner. Her descriptions of codes and ciphers, how they worked and how they were broken, are remarkably clear and accessible. A well-researched, compellingly written, crucial addition to the literature of American involvement in World War II.COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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Formats
- OverDrive Listen audiobook
subjects
Languages
- English
Levels
- Lexile® Measure:1050
- Text Difficulty:6-9
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