Code Girls: The Women Who Decrypted World War II

Liza Mundy

March 6, 2018 at 2:00 P.M. in the Pearl Young Theater
(video within Langley firewall only)

Abstract

In 1942, reeling from Japan’s devastating surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States military launched a secret program to recruit young, female college graduates to serve as code breakers in the newly ramped up war effort. In CODE GIRLS: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II award-winning journalist and bestselling author Liza Mundy, reveals for the first time the revolutionary achievements and patriotic service of these remarkable young women. As Mundy shows, their astonishing code breaking triumphs against the Germans and Japanese helped secure an Allied victory, before their vow of secrecy nearly erased their vital contributions from U.S. history.

Speaker

Liza Mundy is the New York Times best-selling author of The Richer Sex: How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners Is Transforming Sex, Love and Family and Michelle: A Biography. She was a long-time reporter at the Washington Post and has contributed to numerous publications including The Atlantic, TIME, The New Republic, Slate, Mother Jones, and Politico. She is a frequent commentator on prominent national television shows, radio, and online news outlets. A senior fellow at New America, Mundy is one of the nation’s foremost experts on women and work issues.