The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story Of Love, Spies, And The Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America's Enemies

"The savaging of Nazis, the birth of a science: It begins on the day when a twenty-three-year-old American woman decides to trust her doubt and dig with her own mind."

"Elizebeth Friedman (and her husband, William) practically invented cryptology, and by World War II, they were crucial assets to the American government. The code-breaking nuts-and-bolts here are fascinating, but as her work became a political proving ground and William’s spiraled out of his control, this intelligence-gathering operation becomes more John Le Carré than James Bond. That nuance serves the book; the Friedmans are undoubtedly heroes, and they also helped build a surveillance state – a tension not easily resolved. The Woman Who Smashed Codes is both a compelling biography and food for thought about how wars shape nations from within as much as without."