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A review by jmross10
Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II by Liza Mundy
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