SPYING ON SPIES: HOW ELIZEBETH SMITH FRIEDMAN BROKE THE NAZIS’ SECRET CODES, by Marissa Moss, Harry N. Abrams, March 12, 2024, Hardcover, $19.99 (ages 10 and up)
Learn about America’s first female cryptanalyst, Elizebeth Smith Friedman, who busted Nazi spy rings in Spying on Spies, by Marissa Moss.
One of the founders of US cryptology who would eventually become one of the world’s greatest code breakers, Elizebeth Smith Friedman (1892–1980) was a brilliant mind behind many important battles throughout the 20th century, saving many lives through her intelligence and heroism.
Whip-smart and determined, Elizebeth displayed a remarkable aptitude for language and recognizing patterns from a young age. After getting her start by looking for linguistic clues to the true authorship of Shakespeare’s writings, she and her husband, William Friedman, were tasked with heading up the first government code-breaking unit in America, training teams and building their own sophisticated code systems during the lead-up to World War I.
Elizebeth’s solo career was even more impressive. She became the Treasury Department’s and Coast Guard’s first female codebreaker and created her own top-notch codebreaking unit, where she trained and led many male colleagues. During Prohibition in the 1920s, her work solving and intercepting coded messages from mobsters and criminal gangs lead to hundreds of high-profile criminal prosecutions, including members of Al Capone’s gang. Her crowning achievement came during World War II, when Elizebeth uncovered an intricate network of Nazi spies operating in South America, a feat that neither law enforcement nor intelligence agencies had been able to accomplish.
Despite her unparalleled accomplishments, Elizebeth was largely written out of history books and overshadowed by her husband. Only in very recent years has her name begun to receive the attention it deserves, including the US Coast Guard naming a ship in her honor and the US Senate passing a 2019 resolution to honor her life and legacy. —Synopsis provided by Harry N. Abrams
Spying on Spies is another one of those books that kids will instinctively be drawn to just because of its title.
Each chapter begins with graphic novel-style panels that set the stage. Those panels are followed by short chapters that are comfortable to read. Author Marissa Moss’ writing is bright and accessible. Her almost conversational tone and strong pacing and a text that’s about 200 pages (with an author’s note and extensive timeline) make Spying on Spies a good option for more reluctant readers. A number of black-and-white photographs are also included.
Spying on Spies is a compelling story of an amazing woman who helped change the course of America’s history.
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