
Code girls
by Liza Mundy · first published 2017
4mentions
1recommended by
4HN commenters
2018–2020first – last mentioned
25% recommend75% neutral
Recruited by the U.S. Army and Navy from small towns and elite colleges, more than ten thousand women served as codebreakers during World War II. While their brothers and boyfriends took up arms, these women moved to Washington and learned the meticulous work of code-breaking. Their efforts shortened the war, saved countless lives, and gave them access to careers previously denied to them.
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A couple of highly rated books mentioned in the article: Code Girls: https://www.amazon.com/Code-Girls-Untold-American-Breakers/d... The Woman Who Smashed Codes: https://www.amazon.com/Woman-Who-Smashed-Codes-Outwitted/dp/...
on “Genevieve Grotjan unraveled enemy codes during World War II (2018)” ↗…and Betrayal", Nick Bilton >> On my to-read queue: - "How the Internet Happened", Brian McCullough [just started; very promising] - "Troublemakers: Silicon Valley's Coming of Age", Leslie Berlin - "Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of WWII", Liza Mundy - "Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer", Paul Freiberger / Michael Swaine >> Others worth mentioning (but…
on “Ask HN: What are more books like “Masters of Doom” or “Showstoppers”?” ↗…represent Silicon Valley as a titanic battleground that proved the superior mettle of its winners. Both extremes are tempting in their clarity; both make for a gripping story. Occasionally—as in Liza Mundy’s Code Girls (2017) or Margot Shetterly’s Hidden Figures (2016)—a simultaneously individualist and Marxist approach unveils underappreciated digital counter-heroes.
on “Counter-Histories of the Internet” ↗I'm not English native speaker, why is it abuse? There is also book "Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II" that uses the same term.
on “The Code-Breaking Women Who Unmasked Soviet Spies” ↗