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Code Girls
- The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
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Publisher's summary
Recruited by the US Army and Navy from small towns and elite colleges, more than 10,000 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 codebreaking. 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, best-selling author Liza Mundy brings to life this riveting and vital story of American courage, service, and scientific accomplishment.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
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The Bletchley Girls
- War, Secrecy, Love and Loss: The Women of Bletchley Park Tell Their Story
- By: Tessa Dunlop
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Historian and broadcaster Tessa Dunlop tells the story of the women of Bletchley Park through exclusive and unprecedented access to the women themselves. The Bletchley Girls weaves together the lives of 15 women who were all selected to work in Britain's most secret organisation - Bletchley Park. It is their story, told in their voices; Tessa met and talked to 15 veterans, often visiting them several times. Firm friendships were made as their epic journey unfolded on paper.
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Disjointed & Confusing
- By Sara on 02-02-16
By: Tessa Dunlop
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Agent Garbo
- The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler & Saved D-Day
- By: Stephan Talty
- Narrated by: Clinton Wade
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Before he remade himself as the master spy known as Garbo, Juan Pujol was nothing more than a Barcelona poultry farmer. But as Garbo, he turned in a masterpiece of deception that changed the course of World War II. Posing as the Nazis’ only reliable spy inside England, he created an imaginary million-man army, invented armadas out of thin air, and brought a vast network of fictional subagents to life. The scheme culminated on June 6, 1944, when Garbo convinced the Germans that the Allied forces approaching Normandy were just a feint - the real invasion would come at Calais.
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Good story, writing overly dramatic
- By Matthew on 08-13-13
By: Stephan Talty
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Disciples
- The World War II Missions of the CIA Directors Who Fought for Wild Bill Donovan
- By: Douglas Waller
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
They are the most famous and controversial directors the CIA has ever had - Allen Dulles, Richard Helms, William Colby, and William Casey. Disciples is the story of these dynamic agents and their daring espionage and sabotage in wartime Europe under OSS Director Bill Donovan.
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A "Boys in the Boat" for WWII Intrigue
- By Annie M. on 03-21-16
By: Douglas Waller
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Shadow Warriors of World War II
- The Daring Women of the OSS and SOE
- By: Gordon Thomas, Greg Lewis
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
They were told that the only crime they must never commit was to be caught. Women of enormous cunning and strength of will, the Shadow Warriors' stories have remained largely untold - until now. In a dramatic tale of espionage and conspiracy in World War II, Shadow Warriors of World War II unveils the history of the courageous women who volunteered to work behind enemy lines.
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Excellent telling of a story of women's strength, courage and intelligence
- By Ralph's mother on 02-24-17
By: Gordon Thomas, and others
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Operation Whisper
- The Capture of Soviet Spies Morris and Lona Cohen
- By: Barnes Carr
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In Operation Whisper, Barnes Carr tells the true story of the most effective Soviet spy couple in America, a pair who vanished under the FBI's nose only to turn up posing as rare book dealers in London, where they continued their atomic spying. The Cohens were talented, dedicated, worldly spies - an urbane, jet-set couple loyal to their service and their friends. Most people they met seemed to think they represented the best of America. The Soviets certainly thought so.
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Too many facts details
- By Rebecca C. Browne on 10-02-17
By: Barnes Carr
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LeMay
- By: Warren Kozak
- Narrated by: Grainger Hines
- Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The firebombing of Tokyo. Strategic Air Command. John F. Kennedy. Dr. Strangelove. George Wallace. All of these have one man in common—General Curtis LeMay, who remains as enigmatic and controversial as he was in life. Until now. Warren Kozak traces the trajectory of America’s most infamous general, from his troubled background and heroic service in Europe to his firebombing of Tokyo, guardianship of the U.S. nuclear arsenal in the Cold War, frustrated career in government, and short-lived political run.
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Definition.....Leader.....General Curtis Le May
- By Nj-Mike on 01-04-15
By: Warren Kozak
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109 East Palace
- Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos
- By: Jennet Conant
- Narrated by: Anne Twomey
- Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
They were told as little as possible. Their orders were to go to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and report for work at a classified Manhattan Project site, a location so covert it was known to them only by the mysterious address: 109 East Palace.
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Great Listen
- By John H. Davis III on 10-22-05
By: Jennet Conant
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Nimitz
- By: E. B. Potter
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 25 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Called a great book worthy of a great man, this definitive biography of the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet in World War II is considered the best book ever written about Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. Highly respected by both the civilian and naval communities, Nimitz was sometimes overshadowed by more colorful warriors in the Pacific such as MacArthur and Halsey. Potter's lively and authoritative style fleshes out Admiral Nimitz's personality to help listeners appreciate the contributions he made as the principle architect of Japan's defeat.
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Spectacular Book
- By Darrell E. Fisher on 07-13-18
By: E. B. Potter
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Desert Redleg: Artillery Warfare in the First Gulf War
- American Warriors Series
- By: L. Scott Lingamfelter
- Narrated by: Bill Nevitt
- Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, triggering the First Gulf War, a coalition of 35 countries led by the United States responded with Operation Desert Storm, which culminated in a 100-hour coordinated air strike and ground assault that repelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Though largely forgotten in descriptions of the war, an eight-day barrage of artillery fire made this seemingly rapid offensive possible. At the forefront of this offensive were the brave field artillerymen known as "redlegs".
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Excellent account of the Gulf War.
- By Tim on 02-22-24
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My American Journey
- An Autobiography
- By: Colin Powell
- Narrated by: Colin Powell
- Length: 3 hrs and 41 mins
- Abridged
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Performance
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Story
Colin Powell is the embodiment of the American dream. He was born in Harlem to immigrant parents from Jamaica. He knew the rough life of the streets. He overcame a barely average start at school. Then he joined the Army. The rest is history - including Vietnam, the Pentagon, Panama, and Desert Storm - but a history that until now has been known only on the surface.
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Audio book is abridged!
- By Lydia on 02-11-21
By: Colin Powell
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Brute
- The Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine
- By: Robert Coram
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From the earliest days of his 34-year military career, Victor "Brute" Krulak displayed a remarkable facility for applying creative ways of fighting to the Marine Corps. He went on daring spy missions, was badly wounded, pioneered the use of amphibious vehicles, and masterminded the invasion of Okinawa. In Korea, he was a combat hero and invented the use of helicopters in warfare.
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Leaves a deep impression while also entertaining
- By PaulaD on 04-26-15
By: Robert Coram
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Operation Columba - The Secret Pigeon Service
- The Untold Story of World War II Resistance in Europe
- By: Gordon Corera
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Gordon Corera uses declassified documents and extensive original research to tell the story of the Operation Columba and the Secret Pigeon Service for the first time. A tale of wartime espionage, bitter rivalries, extraordinary courage, astonishing betrayal, harrowing tragedy, and a quirky, quarrelsome band of spy masters and their special mission, Operation Columba opens a fascinating new chapter in the annals of World War II. It is ultimately, the story of how, in one of the darkest and most dangerous times in history, under threat of death, people bravely chose to resist.
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Belgium Pigeon
- By Don Rottiers on 08-10-21
By: Gordon Corera
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An Album of Memories
- Personal Histories from the Greatest Generation
- By: Tom Brokaw
- Narrated by: Tom Brokaw, a full cast
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In this beautiful American family album of stories from the Greatest Generation, the history of life as it was lived during the Depression and World War II comes alive and is preserved in people’s own words.
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A heart touching story
- By Randall on 07-03-16
By: Tom Brokaw
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The narrator is ruining the book for me
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At Bletchley Park, some of Britain's most talented mathematicians, linguists, and intellectuals were assembled to break Nazi codes. It was kept secret for nearly 30 years, but we have now come to realize the crucial role that these codebreakers played in the Allied victory in World War II. Written by Dermot Turing - the nephew of famous codebreaker Alan Turing - this account provides unique insight into the behind-the-scenes action at Bletchley Park. This book brings to life the stories of the men and women who toiled day and night to crack the seemingly unbreakable enigma code.
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The immersion in Bletchley Park through human stories and scientific precision
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The Secret Lives of Codebreakers
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Bletchley Park looked like any other sprawling country estate. In reality, however, it was the top-secret headquarters of Britain’s Government Code and Cypher School - and the site where Germany’s legendary Enigma code was finally cracked. There, the nation’s most brilliant mathematical minds - including Alan Turing, whose discoveries at Bletchley would fuel the birth of modern computing - toiled alongside debutantes, factory workers, and students on projects of international importance. Until now, little has been revealed about ordinary life at this extraordinary facility.
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Dull treatment of an exciting subject
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Wise Gals
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In the wake of World War II, four agents were critical in helping build a new organization that we now know as the CIA. Adelaide Hawkins, Mary Hutchison, Eloise Page, and Elizabeth Sudmeier, called the “wise gals” by their male colleagues because of their sharp sense of humor and even quicker intelligence, were not the stereotypical femme fatale of spy novels.
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Intriguing untold history
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Fly Girls
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Between the world wars, no sport was more popular, or more dangerous, than airplane racing. Thousands of fans flocked to multi-day events, and cities vied with one another to host them. The pilots themselves were hailed as dashing heroes who cheerfully stared death in the face. Fly Girls recounts how a cadre of women banded together to break the original glass ceiling: the entrenched prejudice that conspired to keep them out of the sky.
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For women, and dads
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When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, Cornelia Fort was already in the air. At 22, Fort had escaped Nashville’s debutante scene for a fresh start as a flight instructor in Hawaii. She and her student were in the middle of a lesson when the bombs began to fall, and they barely made it back to ground. Still, when the US Army Air Forces put out a call for women pilots to aid the war effort, Fort was one of the first to respond. She became one of just over 1,100 women from across the nation to make it through the Army’s rigorous selection process and earn her silver wings.
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Excellent
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What listeners say about Code Girls
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Roobah
- 10-11-17
Just released, about 80% through this story
Side note that prompted me to write this review: How can anyone give this straight across 1's on a the same-day release for a book this long?
Erin Bennett as the narrator is amazingly good, an excellent reader with no quirks at all. The of this story just flows. I would gladly listen to any story she narrates. (I'm about 10 hours into this story and, while I'd keep listening to it as I have all day long, I'm going to savor the final chapters by waiting until tomorrow to finish it up.)
Follows the lives of a handful of young adult Code Girls, female crypto-analysts living in the DC/VA area (Arlington Farms boarding house for women) just before and during WWII. Story explains how they grew up, how they ended up working in the highest top secret vaults in DC. In story fashion, follows their recruitment, hiring, training, and what their daily lives are like. Friendships develop, 10's of 1000s of women in these government work roles 'invade' DC as government employees. Although many women filled many government office jobs in more traditional roles or as Congressional staffers and aides, this story is about the top secret Code Girls and their dedication to the War effort working as crypto-analysts.
Couldn't give this a straight across 5's because a little bit of disconnected story line trying to keep track of where the some of the crypto girls are working, who they are working for; some disconnect in tying together how all the cogs of different government and military agencies handled sometimes the same kind of work. But the main theme of the day to day life of the very important work these women did shines through and makes this a great story about a small, but important segment these women played regarding the ultimate outcome of US WWII History. A bit of disconnection in trying to piece in the older history of the women in computing and cryptography work roles prior to this era. Those who aren't into complex analysis and code-breaking might not find this part of the story fitting very well with the day to day perils of regular life of these girls when they are away from work. A bit of disconnection in the story explaining cryptography and how difficult it is -- I enjoyed it, but I'm kind of geeky like that. Adding some regular dates and chapter titles that distinguish the reference between the different girls' stories and the side-history and historical context that brought these women to their jobs would have made this story a cleaner, more straight-forward story. An included pdf extra attachment with the photos of the girls and captions helps piece together this somewhat disjointed story of the story of several of the girls, but primarily the telling of the stories of the friendship of Dot and Ruth (nicknamed 'Crow').
A great listen for anyone interested in women working in crypto-analysis; what it must have been like being very smart, college-educated, but still a bit naive jumping into the DC/VA big-city, top-secret world of being a US government code breaker (of Japanese, German, and every other country codes that the US wanted these girls to decode messages from).
A political, feminist story??? As political as the USA was from the mid-1930s-WWII era. Political with regard to the fact that ALL of these girls were government employees holding top secret clearances and had a strong desire to work for the government to help the war effort -- if you are offended by women who wanted to work this kind of job rather than settle down and stay at home to be mothers and raise kids and not work, this story will not be for you. If you would like a vision of what the DC area must have been like circa WWII era, with women at work, and women asserting their capabilities outside of a of traditional women work roles (teacher, secretary, nurse, babysitter, housemaid) this is an inspiring story told from the perspective of living in that time, in that location, from the perspective of the girls who lived this life. Enjoy!
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- Jean
- 10-30-17
Extraordinary Story
I first heard about women code breakers in a historical fiction book by D. M. Sorlie. The heroine in the Sue Lee Series was recruited and trained to be a cryptographer by the Army. When I saw this book, I thought it might fill in my gap of knowledge on the subject.
During World War One many women were recruited as Code breakers but as soon as the war was over they were sent home and told the secrecy oath was still effective. They were forgotten over time by the historians. During World War Two more than 10,000 women worked on breaking and creating complex codes for the military and diplomatic forces.
Mundy stated that during her research she discovered that many of the code breakers were female school teachers. The requirements for a code breaker were the ability to detect patterns, and have a deep understanding of the inner workings of languages and mathematics. The Navy recruited from the elite Seven Sisters Colleges and the Army recruited from teacher colleges of the South and Midwest. There were also a large portion of women code breakers that were civilian workers. The author states a small group of African-American women worked in the cryptology section and specialized in money movements and banking. The demand for educated women was at its highest during the war.
The working conditions were difficult. The could not talk about their jobs; they lived in cramped quarters and had to put up with complex bureaucracy and sexual harassment. There accomplishments were most often dismissed by the men. The men stated that all the women were good for was to do the tedious work.
After seventy years the information about the women code breakers was declassified. The book is well written and the research was meticulous. The author searched the government documents and archives. She interviewed the women code breakers, many of them were in their 90s.
The book is fourteen hours long. Erin Bennett does a great job narrating the book. Bennett is a voice-over artist and award-winning audiobook narrator.
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- CaptainAmerica
- 10-10-17
Big disappointment
After anxiously awaiting the release of this book, I was irritated to find the first chapter being politically charged and painting a negative picture about our armed forces. I refused to read further which I tried not to do but it was clear that the book would be one big story about women’s rights. I can’t stomach anymore of that rhetoric right now. As a woman, I admire and respect all who serve. The possibility of sharing a good story was overshadowed by politics.
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- Gillian
- 03-08-18
Great Book But Could've Used Some Editing--
I had Code Girls on my Pre-Order list for a long time, so I was thrilled when it finally came out. I had, after all, really really enjoyed Rise of the Rocket Girls. I'm glad I did get the book, but I do believe it has some flaws.
One thing my sister pointed out about Rise of the Rocket Girls and which comes up here, is the utter stagnating circumstances women lived in at the time. But in Code Girls, girls/women don't leave because they have to since they made the choice to get married: it was stated up front: One of the most important stipulations for working was a) not married, b) not serious about anyone. So that was disheartening, but it made me like the young women more for their dedication.
And boy were these girls dedicated and devoted to the work! They worked in poor conditions, looking for patterns in code after code, and a couple of them even faced sabotage by male counterparts looking to advance their own careers.
Still, it's not a cover-to-cover listen, at least not to me, and that was what my Pre-Order was looking for; I think it's just that the writing went here and there, with a few digressions every now and then. And Erin Bennett, while not bad at all, delivered the material with the tones of a skilled documentarian.
But if you're looking for a book about sharp, wily, dedicated, patriotic, even sometimes whimsical girls and women, look no further. Code Girls is it.
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- Cynthia
- 11-14-17
Perseverance, Analysis, Intuition and Luck
Admiral Isoruku Yamamota, Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese fleet, was shot down by an American pilot flying a Lockheed P-38 Lightning over the island of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, on April 18, 1943. Admiral Chester Nimitz gave the Top Secret order to assassinate Yamamoto because of intelligence gathered by the women breaking codes at Arlington Hall, Virginia. Their brilliance, carefully nurtured and cultivated skill, dedication and deliberately hidden work was probably more important in ending World War II than Fat Man and Little Boy, the atomic bombs detonated over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Liza Mundy’s “Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II” (2017) is a fascinating look into the recent history of cryptanalysis; the new, unexpected importance of women’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education in the first half of the 20th century; and daily life in wartime America. It joins illustrious books on pioneering women scientists and mathematicians, like Margot Lee Shetterly’s “Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race" (2016) and Nathalia Holt's "Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us from Missiles to the Moon" (2016).
The women of “Code Girls” invite comparison to cryptanalyst Alan Turing, a British mathematician whose life and contributions were too exhaustively described by Andrew Hodge in “Alan Turing: The Enigma” (2012). Turing worked in Great Britain’s Bletchley Park, and “Code Girls” describes American women. The work was complementary, and the Brits turned over intercepts from Enigma to the Americans for decoding. Any real competition was actually between US Army and US Navy cryptanalysts, to see who could break codes the fastest. Mundy’s take seems to be that the competition was counterproductive- but the Army and Navy have been in more or less serious competition for two centuries.
The women “Code Breakers” were unexpected, and so were their lives in wartime America. It’s good to finally know about their contribution and sacrifices. As a woman Army veteran, and I especially enjoyed listening to a history I’d wondered about for so long.
The title of this review is from a quote in the book about what it takes to be a great cryptanalyst.
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- Jeanne B.
- 10-19-17
Listen to the Afterword FIRST!
An important subject, which needs more exposure.
I wish the author had concentrated on a few main subjects and woven the other women's stories into a more cohesive framework.
There are literally dozens of women mentioned by name. I found it confusing to try to remember who was who and who did what. Had I been reading instead of listening, I am sure I would be flipping back and forth between chapters often.
The author pretty much wrote in chronological order, which was probably a mistake. Just because a book is nonfiction doesn't mean it has to be told day-by-day. The remarkable lives of these women would have been better remembered if their stories had been presented in chapters for each main subject, and a chapter devoted to the lesser subjects, or if the book had a format divided by time periods and main topics, such as, "Early Days at Arlington," "Navy versus Army Service," and so on.
The book would have been much better if the author had used an editor early on.
Even so, there is a wealth of information, and the stories of these women's lives are remarkable. Too bad the round robin letters are mentioned only as an afterthought. Putting this information in a forward or first chapter would have made the reader eager to read on and discover the lives of each letter writer. It is one of the most intriguing parts of the story.
As to the narrator, I appreciated her clear voice. However, I found her intonation somewhat irritating and better suited to a cozy mystery or other light-hearted fare. She was a bit too cheery.
Altogether, worth a listen. Then read or listen to other books about women pioneers.
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- Elisabeth Carey
- 03-17-18
A less known story of American women in WWII
In World War II, a critical part of the war effort was breaking German and Japanese codes. Yet, unlike major European countries, the US had very little in the way of a cryptography operation. One had been developed during the first World War, but Henry Stimson, William Howard Taft's Secretary of State, closed it down when he came into office in 1929. His statement, "Gentlemen don't read each other's mail," is beautiful, but of course, in the context of international diplomacy, completely wrong The Navy managed to preserve a tiny operation, but the onset of World War II, the US needed to ramp cryptography back up from almost nothing, very rapidly.
Yet the men, who "ought" to have done that work, were needed for combat operations. Enter the women.
Mundy, based on extensive research including interviews with many of the surviving "code girls," gives us a revealing, compelling picture of the women, their experiences, the history of American cryptography, and the vital role it played in WWII.
Drawing women in to war work, as well as industrial work, to fill the places of men needed for combat, was a major social upheaval in America, and after the war ended, there was an equally major effort to roll it back and send women back home to make room, and inviting homes, for returning men. Yet "freeing the men to fight" had also meant, in many cases, that the women's own brothers or husbands or sweethearts were killed, even as the coders' and others' work had been aimed at keeping the fighting men safe and bringing them home faster.
At the same time, cryptography during the war was a major opportunity for women interested in math to do real and meaningful work in it, rather than being regarded as having wasted their time on a subject not really considered fit for women.
The conflicting pressures, as well as both the restrictions of highly classified war work combined with the freedom of earning their own money in settings far removed from their families and the neighbors they grew up among, created an exciting, confusing, challenging life for women cryptographers, even as the small number of men in their ranks experienced, too often, being regarded as failures and perhaps cowards, despite often being men who were too old for military service, or classified as 4F, medically unable to meet the physical demands of combat. Like the women, they were doing the work they could do, valuable work, that enabled the combat soldiers to fight more effectively.
It's a fascinating look at a long-hidden but vital aspect of the war, one the women and men involved couldn't talk about until decades later.
Highly recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
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- California Quilting Queen
- 11-13-17
A Fascinating unheard story
This book contains a fascinating episode in history. The author was extremely lucky to have been able to talk to some of these ladies. In Britain there was a code of secrecy about the women and men working in code breaking. My Mother joined the Army due to her interest in crossword puzzles and single status to work in intelligence, but she kept her work secret as was required at that time. Sadly through death and dementia we have lost the stories of many of the women employed in code breaking from multiple countries. This book is a great step forward in telling the story of the women who undertook code breaking in the USA.
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- J. Biallas
- 08-11-18
Important story, lousy writing!
This is an important story of Army and navy women and their amazing Crypto efforts in WWII. My wife's cousin, who passed away a short time ago, was a code girl who spoke numerous languages She never, I mean never, talked about it. She took "secret" to mean secret. This story needs to be told. Unfortunately , this is not the book that does so, at least in a coherent and readable way.
I blame the editor, who seems to have given this author a pass on what is often gibberish. This could have been a good book, even a great book. It is barely an OK book.
Buyer beware.
I am returning it as i could not get through it without cringing.
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- Karla
- 11-07-17
An amazing look and palpable story
It is an incredible insiders look at WWll from those that broke gender barriers and without knowing it tipped the scales in a war that change it all.
As a person that lived in DC because of my husbands service to its government it allowed me to be transported and to reminisce about the streets and sights that I walked many decades later. To know the important role that these women played and the doors that they opened for the many people that work in those capacities today and how they change the world by taking a chance.
The narrator made the women and their lives come alive!
If you or you have daughters that are history buffs I would recomendable this as a book or as an unabridged audio book!!
It leaves you with a sense of pride and with a sense that everyone’s work makes a difference.
Thank you Mrs. Mundy for bringing this piece of history to the fore front.
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