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Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II by Liza Mundy
3 reviews
percys_panda_pillow_pet's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.25
I picked up Code Girls at the library because it held two things interesting to me: Code breaking and espionage in history and women's history. Author Liza Mundy absolutely delivered on those two things and more. I totally understand the appeal of learning about World War II, because as much as there was tragedy happening all over the world, a lot of people, places, things, and events are fascinating on a larger scale due to the innovations made in warfare and the military during that time.
While Mundy occasionally leans into a romanticized look at the time period and the American military might, she doesn't shy away from chipping at that view and really opening the reader up to the reality of another World War of this magnitude. As well as showing the levels of discrimination that were happening in that time period, especially to women. Though I disagreed with the balance of this romantic view and the reality throughout the book, I cannot deny that she did a great job with her research.
I think one of my bigger gripes about the book was the omission of the names of the all Black code breakers that were in Arlington Hall, as well as there wasn't as much about people of color, especially women of color. The author does point out in a few places that Black women were not allowed to enlist into WAVES or WACS and talks about how when scouting for potential codebreakers, the Army and Navy only wanted (paraphrasing) "women whose allegiances would not be swayed" aka white women. But I wanted a little bit more about this aspect of recruitment, as I feel like that is something important to focus on when you are talking about an already marginalized group. I was really disappointed that, even though this was about women code breakers and the all Black code breaker group was almost all women as well, none of them were named. Even if the author couldn't find this information, I still felt it important to make note of.
Overall, I definitely felt that this was an engaging and interesting book to read. It had a good casual tone throughout that didn't present the information in an overly dry manner so it was fairly easy to stay engaged. I only had a harder time reading it as I took some breaks when the material was more somber due to the nature of war. I would recommend this to anyone interested in learning more about the (white) women of America during World War II or learning about the beginning of intense code-breaking in America and what became eventually the NSA.
While Mundy occasionally leans into a romanticized look at the time period and the American military might, she doesn't shy away from chipping at that view and really opening the reader up to the reality of another World War of this magnitude. As well as showing the levels of discrimination that were happening in that time period, especially to women. Though I disagreed with the balance of this romantic view and the reality throughout the book, I cannot deny that she did a great job with her research.
I think one of my bigger gripes about the book was the omission of the names of the all Black code breakers that were in Arlington Hall, as well as there wasn't as much about people of color, especially women of color. The author does point out in a few places that Black women were not allowed to enlist into WAVES or WACS and talks about how when scouting for potential codebreakers, the Army and Navy only wanted (paraphrasing) "women whose allegiances would not be swayed" aka white women. But I wanted a little bit more about this aspect of recruitment, as I feel like that is something important to focus on when you are talking about an already marginalized group. I was really disappointed that, even though this was about women code breakers and the all Black code breaker group was almost all women as well, none of them were named. Even if the author couldn't find this information, I still felt it important to make note of.
Overall, I definitely felt that this was an engaging and interesting book to read. It had a good casual tone throughout that didn't present the information in an overly dry manner so it was fairly easy to stay engaged. I only had a harder time reading it as I took some breaks when the material was more somber due to the nature of war. I would recommend this to anyone interested in learning more about the (white) women of America during World War II or learning about the beginning of intense code-breaking in America and what became eventually the NSA.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Death, Body shaming, Violence, Sexism, Misogyny, War, and Racism
Moderate: Pregnancy, Infidelity, Antisemitism, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Bullying, Abortion, Mental illness, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Fatphobia
Minor: Vomit, Religious bigotry, Ableism, Confinement, Car accident, Alcohol, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
jmross10's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
This book sheds light on a lesser known - but very impactful - contingent of the U.S. war effort. As well as outlines the makings of what would become modern intelligence agencies such as the NSA. It does this through the exploration of the lives and experiences of women brought in to work on top secret coding projects leading up to and after WWII.
Mundy does a good job discussing how recruiting was done, the responsibilities and challenges faced by these women, how they were integrated, and how they were eventually removed from their military positions. In several cases, she was able to speak with women from these units and wove their life stories into the overarching narrative which helps the reader form closer bonds to the content.
However, I feel the story was bogged down by poor organization of the information. It is separated into sections (that are vague dividers) but there is so much jumping around the timeline that it felt chaotic and unnecessarily drawn out. I know this is a very hard story to tell chronologically because so much was happening at once but that seemed to be the intent at the beginning and then was completely abandoned towards the middle.
All this to say, if the book were a bit more concise I probably would have rated higher. That was not the case though and there were aspects that felt a bit unnecessary, further dragging out a narrative that lost its steam about half way through.
Mundy does a good job discussing how recruiting was done, the responsibilities and challenges faced by these women, how they were integrated, and how they were eventually removed from their military positions. In several cases, she was able to speak with women from these units and wove their life stories into the overarching narrative which helps the reader form closer bonds to the content.
However, I feel the story was bogged down by poor organization of the information. It is separated into sections (that are vague dividers) but there is so much jumping around the timeline that it felt chaotic and unnecessarily drawn out. I know this is a very hard story to tell chronologically because so much was happening at once but that seemed to be the intent at the beginning and then was completely abandoned towards the middle.
All this to say, if the book were a bit more concise I probably would have rated higher. That was not the case though and there were aspects that felt a bit unnecessary, further dragging out a narrative that lost its steam about half way through.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Abortion, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Violence, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexism, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, and War
gracer's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
3.0
Really fascinating history of a very exciting time. I learned a lot about the war, not just codes and cryptanalysis- but that too! For example, I had heard that Allies tried to make Hitler believe they would invade Europe through Norway to distract from Normandy, but I never thought about how much work went into the distraction and who was doing it.
I thought this book covered a good span of history, going back to earlier American cryptographers like the Friedmans and Agnes Driscoll, without dwelling on them for too long. For the most part I also enjoyed forays into the personal lives of the code girls we followed.
That said, at times the writing went too far. Things were repeated - we get it, the only other job option these women had was to be a teacher, and we don’t need to be reminded each time a new code breaker is introduced. My favorite example of this was the line, “[they] were married on December 29, 1945, a few days after Christmas.” Yes, I do know when Christmas is... I guess sometimes people think these things add to the scene but to me they almost always feel superfluous.
At other times I didn’t really understand why the book was organized a certain way. It seemed to jump around a bit, as I’m sure was necessary (there was a lot going on from 1941-1945, let’s be honest), but the structure escaped me.
Also, in a few instances, the author quoted people using what are now considered to be racial slurs. I don’t understand why these slurs were published, wholly intact.
Overall, a highly informative read on a really interesting chapter of history.
I thought this book covered a good span of history, going back to earlier American cryptographers like the Friedmans and Agnes Driscoll, without dwelling on them for too long. For the most part I also enjoyed forays into the personal lives of the code girls we followed.
That said, at times the writing went too far. Things were repeated - we get it, the only other job option these women had was to be a teacher, and we don’t need to be reminded each time a new code breaker is introduced. My favorite example of this was the line, “[they] were married on December 29, 1945, a few days after Christmas.” Yes, I do know when Christmas is... I guess sometimes people think these things add to the scene but to me they almost always feel superfluous.
At other times I didn’t really understand why the book was organized a certain way. It seemed to jump around a bit, as I’m sure was necessary (there was a lot going on from 1941-1945, let’s be honest), but the structure escaped me.
Also, in a few instances, the author quoted people using what are now considered to be racial slurs. I don’t understand why these slurs were published, wholly intact.
Overall, a highly informative read on a really interesting chapter of history.
Content Warnings
Minor: Abortion, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Mental illness, and Racial slurs
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