{"product_id":"decoding-the-devil-black-women-codebreakers-and-the-secret-war-against-stalins-bomb","title":"Decoding the Devil: Black Women Codebreakers and the Secret War Against Stalin's Bomb","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eDecoding the Devil\u003c\/i\u003e shatters the mythology of American intelligence. With relentless research and electric storytelling, Sarah Valentine restores the erased Black cryptologists who powered U.S. codebreaking from WWII through the Korean War. Urgent, revelatory, and impossible to ignore, \u003ci\u003eDecoding the Devil\u003c\/i\u003e unveils both the uncomfortable truths and the inspiring histories that form the foundation of our intelligence community.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNathalia Holt, New York Times bestselling author of Rise of the Rocket Girls and Wise Gals\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A thought-provoking exploration of the lives and work of the largely forgotten, undervalued, and little-acknowledged Black (and mostly female) cryptologists who contributed to this nation's intelligence success during World War II and the early Cold War. These contributions were made despite physically uncomfortable and segregated workspaces and assignments far below their education and capabilities. Sarah Valentine tells a fascinating tale, deftly weaving the cryptologic work into the social and political constraints of the times.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBetsy Rohaly Smoot, author of Parker Hitt: The Father of American Military Cryptology\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"I wish \u003ci\u003eDecoding the Devil\u003c\/i\u003e was required reading for everyone in the military and military-adjacent fields, because this book shows us the seams and man-making of a patriotic narrative usually sold to us as divine. Like Zora Neal Hurston loves us, Sarah Valentine loves us enough to tell the truth about our humanity inside of purposefully inhumane American institutions.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSteven Dunn, author of Water \u0026amp; Power\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Decoding the Devil\u003c\/i\u003e is an illuminating account of the dauntless and largely unacknowledged cadre of Black women who had to work within the early NSA and its predecessors for the \"Triple V\"--victory over fascism, victory over racism, \u003ci\u003eand\u003c\/i\u003e victory over sexism. Sarah Valentine makes a convincing case that the Agency's ingrained racism and sexism was not just a moral failing, but an operational defect with real security consequences in the Cold War era.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eGary Krist, author of The Mirage Factory\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"In intelligence, as in all fields, a nation benefits when it taps the gifts and talents of all citizens--and suffers when it does not. It took America a long time to learn this and we are at constant risk of forgetting it. Sarah Valentine through her research has recovered this message anew, showcasing the Black women code breakers who, subjected to appalling conditions and relegated to the bleakest rooms, worked to safeguard our safety and stability during perilous times.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLiza Mundy, author of The Sisterhood\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Decoding the Devil\u003c\/i\u003e vividly demonstrates that, behind some of the greatest technological security innovations, there are masses of people whose rights were violated and whose contributions remain unrecognized.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Bruce Schneier, author of Rewriring Democracy: How AI Will Transform our Politics, Government, and Citizenship\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAs groundbreaking as \u003cem\u003eCode Girls \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eHidden Figures\u003c\/em\u003e, this is the shocking true story of two segregated codebreaking units racing to unlock Stalin's atomic secrets in the face of a rapidly expanding Soviet nuclear threat at the dawn of the Cold War.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFacing the global threat of a rising Communist world power in the aftermath of World War II, the U.S. employed hundreds of Black Americans to speed read Russian communications and gather essential information on the US's most dangerous nuclear rival.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe result was the creation of a segregated civilian codebreaking unit known as the Traffic Processing Division--The Plantation. Despite wage discrimination, grueling hours, strict quotas, and harsh conditions, the Plantation's 100 college-educated Black women made invaluable breakthroughs in United States' Soviet intelligence even as the Red Scare and the backlash against civil rights eroded their democratic freedoms at home. Their underappreciated top-secret work led directly to victory over the USSR and the end of the Cold War thirty years later.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this thrilling history\u003cem\u003e, \u003c\/em\u003eSarah Valentine tells their remarkable story in full for the first time. \u003cem\u003eDecoding the Devil\u003c\/em\u003e pays long overdue tribute to these little-known Black cryptologists' critical contributions to national security during the civil rights era, and offers a fresh perspective on the Cold War and American heroes of color.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e 06\/01\/2026 (EAN 9780063305472, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eContributor Bio:\u003c\/strong\u003eValentine, Sarah\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSarah Valentine\u003c\/strong\u003e, Ph.D., is a widely published author and translator. In 2013 she was a Lannan Foundation Writers Fellow and has taught literature and creative writing at Princeton, University of California-Los Angeles, University of California-Riverside, and Northwestern University. In her memoir \u003cem\u003eWhen I Was White\u003c\/em\u003e, she recounts growing up in Pittsburgh as a mixed race African American in a white family who kept her identity a closely held secret. She lives in Pittsburgh.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Harper","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496197030166,"sku":"9780063305472","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9780063305472.jpg?v=1783057306","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/decoding-the-devil-black-women-codebreakers-and-the-secret-war-against-stalins-bomb","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}