Liza Mundy

In 1941, following the devastating surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, a group of female college students received secret letters from the U.S. Navy, inviting them to join America’s intelligence forces and train to become code-breakers. Over the next two years more than 10,000 women would answer that call: college students and Southern schoolteachers, young women from cities as well as small towns and farms. While their brothers and boyfriends took up arms, these women moved to Washington, D.C, 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. A strict vow of secrecy nearly erased their efforts from history. Now, through dazzling research and interviews with surviving code girls, bestselling author Liza Mundy brings to life this riveting and vital story of American courage, service, and scientific accomplishment. She shares the story in a talk, based on her new book, which includes video footage of her interviews with surviving code breakers. In the tradition of Hidden Figures, it is the story of an early cohort of women adept in science and math, whose efforts helped the Allies win what remains the biggest, costliest and worst war in human history.