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jenstarr 's review for:
The Woman All Spies Fear: Code Breaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden Life
by Amy Butler Greenfield
Elizabeth Smith Friedman longed for a life different from the status quo at a time when society encouraged women, especially white women like Elizabeth, to follow the traditional roles of homemakers and mothers. A chance encounter with an eccentric millionaire consumed with a project to break the so-called Shakespearean Cipher set her on a path of code-breaking and cryptography. She went on to play a leading role in cracking criminal and military codes throughout World Wars I and II, as well as prohibition and becoming a pioneer in government cryptology.
Overshadowing a few stretches of sluggish narrative were the many memorable events depicted, like Elizabeth's narrow miss of a fatal airplane crash, her breaking of messages from a Nazi spy ring in South America, and the exploration of her team's ill-treatment by the FBI and their disastrous missteps handling classified information. The Woman All Spies Fear also follows Elizabeth's early career when she met a fellow code breaker, William Friedman, who would become her husband and partner in work. Despite encountering antisemitism, William's gender meant he had more opportunities and recognition in his career than Elizabeth. But it was apparent in the book that William never underestimated Elizabeth's talent and would go on to hire women to be part of his team. On top of being an intriguing tale about codes and ciphers and how breaking them impacted the country's history, this is also a tender story of lifelong love, support, and partnership.
The secrecy of her work and the discomfort the society at the time had with women in the workplace meant that the details of Elizabeth Smith Friedman's extraordinary life were almost lost to time. Her legacy has endured in part because of her and her husband's foresighted actions to preserve their papers, pictures, and books at the Marshall Library as well as the declassification of projects she had worked on. As a reader without in-depth knowledge of cryptology, I found the "Code Breaks" sections of the book explaining in more detail the codes and ciphers used by the Friedmans and the spies and criminals they pursued illuminating. Readers of The Woman Who All Spies Fear will find this a well-researched, engaging chronicle about a fascinating woman and her newly revealed impact on our country's history.
- Jen R
Overshadowing a few stretches of sluggish narrative were the many memorable events depicted, like Elizabeth's narrow miss of a fatal airplane crash, her breaking of messages from a Nazi spy ring in South America, and the exploration of her team's ill-treatment by the FBI and their disastrous missteps handling classified information. The Woman All Spies Fear also follows Elizabeth's early career when she met a fellow code breaker, William Friedman, who would become her husband and partner in work. Despite encountering antisemitism, William's gender meant he had more opportunities and recognition in his career than Elizabeth. But it was apparent in the book that William never underestimated Elizabeth's talent and would go on to hire women to be part of his team. On top of being an intriguing tale about codes and ciphers and how breaking them impacted the country's history, this is also a tender story of lifelong love, support, and partnership.
The secrecy of her work and the discomfort the society at the time had with women in the workplace meant that the details of Elizabeth Smith Friedman's extraordinary life were almost lost to time. Her legacy has endured in part because of her and her husband's foresighted actions to preserve their papers, pictures, and books at the Marshall Library as well as the declassification of projects she had worked on. As a reader without in-depth knowledge of cryptology, I found the "Code Breaks" sections of the book explaining in more detail the codes and ciphers used by the Friedmans and the spies and criminals they pursued illuminating. Readers of The Woman Who All Spies Fear will find this a well-researched, engaging chronicle about a fascinating woman and her newly revealed impact on our country's history.
- Jen R