The Woman Who Smashed Codes

As a young girl, I seemed to always gravitate to biographies.  I never understood why, but I remember reading about Archimedes and learning about his displacement of water discovery, along with others.  And now that I actually have time to read and am in a book club, I am finding out that the books I like the most are those about people of whom I have never heard.

Several years ago, we read about Francis Perkins, the woman in FDR's White House who was the one responsible for many of the New Deal's policies.  It was such an interesting story, and credit for Francis Perkins' achievement was usually given to the men around her.

And so it is with Elisebeth Friedman (yes, it is spelled correctly), The Woman Who Smashed Codes. Elisebeth became a code-breaker at a very early age, and the story of how she met her equally brilliant husband, William, and how she broke the Nazi codes in WWII is gripping.  She was another woman who received little credit for her accomplishments, despite having a husband who not only recognized her abilities but cherished them.    Her story remained hidden until much of her work was declassified in 2000.

In my book club, we read Killers of the Flower Moon, which detailed how the FBI was born.  In the book about Elisabeth Friedman, much more about the FBI, its growth, and its operation is detailed.  I had no idea.  There is so much we don't know . . . and so much we don't know we don't know.  And I love finding out what I don't know!