From the dust jacket- In the summer of 1916, a young woman from Indiana set out to solve a mystery. It involved an oddball millionaire, a volume of Shakespeare's plays, and the secret world of codes and ciphers. Within a year, she had transformed herself into one of America's top code breakers.
During World War I, Elizebeth Smith Friedman cracked thousands of messages, but that was only the beginning of her brilliant career. In the 1920s and 1930s, she pitted her wits against the mob. When World War II broke out, she hunted Nazi spies.
Despite her fame, she was a woman of many secrets, and later she was pushed into the shadows. To get the true measure of her hidden life, you must delve deep, the way a code breaker would, searching for the truth that lies just out of sight.
Review- An interesting and well researched biography of a hidden woman and what she gave her country. Elizebeth Smith Friedman was a woman who refused to hide her gifts and in fact, she insisted on using them for her country. She learned how to break codes with her future husband and together, they they broke codes for the Army in WWI. Then she continued to work to stop mobsters and then Nazis. Her life was full of challenges, not just from the codes but from the men around her, the men on both sides of the law and the wars. They underestimated her and the mob/Nazis paid the price for doing so. This is a biography written for young adults but the writing is excellent and an adult who wants to learn about Friedman will not be bored with this book. It is very well researched from primary resources from letters and other first hand documents. I would recommend this book.
I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.
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