Woman Who Smashed Codes, The

This is the little-known story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, first hired by an eccentric tycoon in 1916 to find the secret messages in Shakespeare, but when World War I started she and her husband-to-be cryptologist William Friedman moved into wartime codebreaking. During Prohibition they caught criminals and smugglers, and spent World War II decoding messages sent by Nazi spies. Although one of the most important cryptographers of the 20th century, little was known about her due to sexism—her husband got all the glory. This riveting biography reads like a thriller and would be useful for literature circles or independent reading, and for social studies courses for grades 10-12.