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

by Liza Mundy

Overview

In the tradition of Hidden Figures and The Girls of Atomic City, Code Girls is 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316439893
Publisher:	Betsy Locke
Publication date:	10/28/2017
Edition description:	Large Print Edition
Pages:	500
Sales rank:	273,564
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 1.50(h) x 9.50(d)

About the Author

Liza Mundy is the New York Times bestselling author of The Richer Sex: How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners Is Transforming Sex, Love and Family and Michelle: A Biography. She has worked as a reporter at the Washington Post and contributed to numerous publications including The Atlantic, TIME, The New Republic, Slate, Mother Jones, and The Guardian. She is a frequent commentator on countless prominent national television, radio, and online news outlets and has positioned herself at the prestigious New America Foundation as one of the nation's foremost experts on women and work issues.

Table of Contents

Author's Note xiii

The Secret Letters 1

Introduction: "Your Country Needs You, Young Ladies" 17

Part I "In the Event of Total War Women Will Be Needed"

Chapter 1 Twenty-Eight Acres of Girls 53

Chapter 2 "This Is a Man's Size Job, but I Seem to Be Getting Away with It" 86

Chapter 3 The Most Difficult Problem 130

Chapter 4 "So Many Girls in One Place" 169

Part II "Over All This Vast Expanse of Waters Japan Was Supreme"

Chapter 5 "It Was Heart-Rending" 201

Chapter 6 "Q for Communications" 244

Chapter 7 The Forlorn Shoe 311

Chapter 8 "Hell's Half-Acre" 318

Chapter 9 "It Was Only Human to Complain" 356

Chapter 10 Pencil-Pushing Mamas Sink the Shipping of Japan 375

Part III The Tide Turns

Chapter 11 Sugar Camp 401

Chapter 12 "All My Love, Jim" 448

Chapter 13 "Enemy Landing at the Mouth of the Seine" 460

Chapter 14 Teedy 487

Chapter 15 The Surrender Message 499

Chapter 16 Good-Bye to Crow 513

Epilogue The Mitten 522

Acknowledgments 551

Notes 559

Bibliography 609