Code Girls
Liza Mundy
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
Code Girls
Liza Mundy
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
Mundy skillfully interweaves the history of the war and the evolution of modern military intelligence with the daily lives of the women who were racing to decipher the messages of the enemy, while dealing with bureaucratic rivalries, administrative sexism, romance and heartbreak on the home front.
...[a] detailed, fascinating, and sometimes infuriating book, which does much to close that gap in military history.
Salvaging this essential piece of American military history from certain obscurity, Mundy’s painstaking and dedicated research produces an eye-opening glimpse into a crucial aspect of U.S. military operations and pays overdue homage to neglected heroines of WWII. Fans of Hidden Figures (2016) and its exposé of unsung talent will revel in Mundy’s equally captivating portraits of women of sacrifice, initiative, and dedication..
...prodigiously researched and engrossing … Mundy’s narrative turns thrilling as she chronicles the eureka moments when the women succeed in cracking codes, relying on a mixture of mathematical expertise, memorization and occasional leaps of intuition … Mundy paints a vivid portrait of the daily lives of these energetic single young women — the upheaval and challenges of adjusting to the high-pressure military environment, the condescension and sexism from male colleagues and superiors, the cramped living quarters, the constant anxiety over brothers and boyfriends in harm’s way, the wartime romances, weekend high jinks and stress-related breakdowns … Thanks to Mundy’s book, which deftly conveys both the puzzle-solving complexities and the emotion and drama of this era, their stories will live on..
...[a] captivating book.
In researching this extraordinary book, Mundy perused declassified Army, Navy and NSA archives. And she managed to get some, but not all, material declassified. She also examined private collections ad oral histories, and conducted interviews with some of the code girls and their relatives. Mundy's book is expansive and precise. It's anecdotal enough to make it an entertaining read for the layperson, and there's plenty of technical detail to interest the crypto-nerd..
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 cliché, 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..
Mundy strikes historical gold in this appealing tale of wartime intelligence work.