Code Girls : the Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II

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Call Number: Adult BOCD / Nonfiction / History / Mundy, Liza
On Shelf At: Malletts Creek Branch, Pittsfield Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Malletts Adult A/V 4-week checkout	Adult BOCD / Nonfiction / History / Mundy, Liza	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult A/V 4-week checkout	Adult BOCD / Nonfiction / History / Mundy, Liza	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Westgate Adult A/V 4-week checkout	Adult BOCD / Nonfiction / History / Mundy, Liza	4-week checkout	Due 05-14-2024

Compact disc.
Read by Erin Bennett.
The astonishing, untold story of the young American women who cracked key Axis codes, helping to secure Allied victory and revolutionizing the field of cryptanalysis. 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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important story, but not well told submitted by camelsamba on August 31, 2018, 10:42am Although I did not listen to this as an audiobook, I fear that there are sections (devoted to cryptography) that would be really hard to follow if you were listening. I found myself reviewing certain paragraphs more than once to understand the process.

This book chronicles a part of the war effort that you probably never heard of: those who worked behind the scenes to break our enemies' secret codes leading up to and during World War 2. Initially women were recruited from elite colleges and the ranks of teachers. They had a variety of tasks, from advanced math (cryptanalysis) to meticulous filing (surprisingly important for finding patterns to break codes). These women were instrumental in the Allied war efforts, yet their stories were unknown for decades because of the classified nature of their work. They couldn't even tell family after the war ended. (Some were nervous to talk about their work even once it was declassified 50 years later.)

As fascinating as the story was, I was disappointed that it wasn't better told. The author spends time telling about how cryptographic breakthroughs were made, but then intersperses it with details of finding housing in wartime Washington. A few chapters focus on correspondence between a woman and her soldier overseas. In addition, the timeline jumps back and forth at time and loses the narrative thread. It's almost as though there were two - maybe three? - stories that needed to be told and the author couldn't figure out which to focus upon or how to effectively intertwine them within the narrative. (Focus on individuals or the larger effort; focus on cryptography and how it enabled military advances or focus on the lives of women involved in the work.) Better editing might have fixed this problem.

the untold codebreaker story submitted by leea on August 18, 2020, 1:33pm Recruited by the U.S. government from small towns and elite colleges, more than ten thousand women served as codebreakers during World War II. While families 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. But this book brings us their life this riveting and vital story of American courage, service, and scientific accomplishment.