Name: altlovesbooks's review of The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone
Item: The Woman Who Smashed Codes
Rating: 4
Author: altlovesbooks

Jason Fagone

NATIONAL BESTSELLER NPR Best Book of 2017 “Not all superheroes wear capes, and Elizebeth Smith Friedman should be the subject of a future Wonder Woman movie.” — The New York Times Joining the ranks of Hidden Figures and In the Garden of Beasts, the incredible true story of the greatest codebreaking duo that ever lived, an American woman and her husband who invented the modern science of cryptology together and used it to confront the evils of their time, solving puzzles that unmasked Nazi spies and helped win World War II. In 1916, at the height of World War I, brilliant Shakespeare expert Elizebeth Smith went to work for an eccentric tycoon on his estate outside Chicago. The tycoon had close ties to the U.S. government, and he soon asked Elizebeth to apply her language skills to an exciting new venture: code-breaking. There she met the man who would become her husband, groundbreaking cryptologist William Friedman. Though she and Friedman are in many ways the "Adam and Eve" of the NSA, Elizebeth’s story, incredibly, has never been told. In The Woman Who Smashed Codes, Jason Fagone chronicles the life of this extraordinary woman, who played an integral role in our nation’s history for forty years. After World War I, Smith used her talents to catch gangsters and smugglers during Prohibition, then accepted a covert mission to discover and expose Nazi spy rings that were spreading like wildfire across South America, advancing ever closer to the United States. As World War II raged, Elizebeth fought a highly classified battle of wits against Hitler’s Reich, cracking multiple versions of the Enigma machine used by German spies. Meanwhile, inside an Army vault in Washington, William worked furiously to break Purple, the Japanese version of Enigma—and eventually succeeded, at a terrible cost to his personal life. Fagone unveils America’s code-breaking history through the prism of Smith’s life, bringing into focus the unforgettable events and colorful personalities that would help shape modern intelligence. Blending the lively pace and compelling detail that are the hallmarks of Erik Larson’s bestsellers with the atmosphere and intensity of The Imitation Game, The Woman Who Smashed Codes is page-turning popular history at its finest.

A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America's Enemies

The Woman Who Smashed Codes

Mandi Jayne

altlovesbooks

"There is nothing wrong with me. What's wrong is with other people."

I normally don't really leap on books where they make a big deal out of the main character/subject being female. I, a female, am just a person, and I don't take any special glee or pleasure out of being exalted above other people just for being what I was born. I almost passed this book up, but the subject of codebreaking was one I hadn't read about before and that was too interesting to pass up.

I'm glad I gave this a shot, because in actuality this book is about a husband/wife codebreaking duo, which I thought was more interesting than the book hinging on one person. These two were brought together by a kooky guy and his mansion of weird and wonderful experiments, she to help an older woman with her Baconian theory that Shakespeare was really Francis Bacon (incorrect) and he to produce experiments on fruit flies. They realized together that they both had an interest in solving puzzles and cracking codes, and together created the groundwork for cracking codes today. Their knowledge carried them through World War I, through catching rum runners during prohibition, and ultimately through World War II where their knowledge and mental abilities were pushed to their limits. 

This was a super interesting story, and written in a way that wasn't at all confusing. The author provided ample visuals to explain some parts of the codebreaking process, and I was able to (mostly) follow along and understand the basics. Both Elizebeth and William were interesting people in their own rights.

My only minor quibble was the title. At one point in the book the author notes "The press had a way of praising Elizebeth and condescending to her at the same time, professing amazement at the capabilities of the female brain", and I kind of got that same vibe from the author with this book. These two worked together to crack all sorts of different codes, using pen and paper and their minds. The title felt phrased the way it was to sell copies, honestly.

But still, a great book, and really interesting even if you're not a codebreaker yourself.

Jeremy Anderberg

“Codebreaking is about noticing and manipulating patterns. Humans do this without thinking. We’re wired to see patterns. Codebreakers train themselves to see more deeply.”

The last few years have seen an influx of stories about the heroic women of WWII: Code Name Lise, D-Day Girls, A Woman of No Importance, the brand new Daughters of Yalta. Among the best of these tales is Fagone’s book about Elizebeth Friedman’s life and work.

In the midst of World War I, the realm of codebreaking was just emerging. It was both new art form and new science, and Elizebeth was on the front lines, not only deciphering secret German messages but also writing the guides that would lead to America’s dominance in the field for the next decades. After WWI, she worked with the government to catch Prohibition-breaking felons, who often used coded messages to relay their moonshine delivery routes and pick-up locations. Once WWII came along, she was put to even greater use leading America’s charge against the Nazis, enduring grueling hours without ever wavering (while her husband, on the other hand, missed long periods of time due to the stress of the job).

Speaking of her husband: though Milton has long been given more fame in the cryptology world, Elizebeth arguably contributed much more to the field. Thanks to newly unclassified documents, Fagone is finally getting the credit she has long deserved:

“By any measure, Elizebeth was a great heroine of the Second World War. The British knew it. The navy knew it. The FBI knew it. But the American public never did, because Elizebeth wasn’t allowed to speak.” 

(That last sentence sounds more nefarious than it really is; she was just a very classified employee.)

The Woman Who Smashed Codes is always interesting; my wife isn’t often into history, but she enjoyed this one immensely and knew I would too. Beyond just Elizebeth’s career arc (which includes an utterly fascinating prelude of finding secret messages in the works of Shakespeare), the reader gets a lot of info on the history of codebreaking as well as the unique makeup and psychology of the people doing it. Elizebeth Friedman’s story is well worth knowing and Jason Fagone tells it marvelously.

Mandi Jayne &
The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone

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Mandi Jayne &The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone

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Mandi Jayne &
The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone