Editorial Content for Decoding the Devil: Black Women Codebreakers and the Secret War Against Stalin's Bomb
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
In DECODING THE DEVIL, noted author Sarah Valentine presents a revelatory account of little-known but significant American history: the employment of Black American women to monitor sensitive, secret data regarding the regime of the USSR and its efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
In the post-World War II era, computerization was a new phenomenon. Those who utilized its benefits would need to be highly educated, yet willing to work as undercover agents for low pay in harsh conditions and under the pressure of racial prejudice, which was especially prevalent in Washington, DC. Blacks who lived “under constant threat” were likely candidates to toil for what were known as Code Units.
"Readers new to Valentine’s chosen, vividly arrayed portraits of Black women willing to toil on behalf of a nation that generally scorned them, as well as those with inherent interest in the verities of their courageous work, will wish to further explore her literary offerings."
Valentine’s impressively detailed work focuses on four of these indomitable women: Naomi McElwaine, a Purdue graduate; Ethel Just, whose expertise was the German language; Iris Carr, a Texas schoolteacher; and Minnie Kenny, who developed special knowledge of both Chinese intelligence and cybersecurity.
Through their eyes, Valentine depicts grueling workdays spent in specially segregated buildings and basements under armed guard, the complexities of the regulations to be followed, and the punishments that might ensue for disobedience. She offers scrupulous research concerning the era, with reminders of the Ku Klux Klan, the ideology of the Cold War, America’s exploration of the efficacy of nuclear protection and aggression, the effects of such rebellious personalities as African-American actor and activist Paul Robeson, and the prevalence of beliefs that not only were Black people inferior, but that their very blood was a “contaminant.” Perhaps most telling was the official designation of the women’s workplace as the Traffic Processing Division, which was privately referred to by its managers as The Plantation.
Valentine professes a strong personal attachment to the subject matter that she so diligently shares. Beginning with a talent for poetry, she became drawn to Russian literature. After achieving a PhD, she started to explore her experiences as a mixed-race person, composing the award-winning essay (and eventual memoir) “When I Was White.” DECODING THE DEVIL features a plethora of factual material concerning governmental policies, computer complexities, terminologies such as Book Cipher and Machine Cryptanalysis, and brief biographical portraits of such historical figures as Eleanor Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin and Kim Philby.
Readers new to Valentine’s chosen, vividly arrayed portraits of Black women willing to toil on behalf of a nation that generally scorned them, as well as those with inherent interest in the verities of their courageous work, will wish to further explore her literary offerings.
Teaser
Facing 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 their most dangerous nuclear rival. The result was the creation of a segregated civilian codebreaking unit known as the Traffic Processing Division --- The Plantation. Its 100 college-educated Black women made invaluable breakthroughs in the country’s 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 30 years later. In DECODING THE DEVIL, Sarah Valentine tells their remarkable story in full for the first time.
Promo
Facing 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 their most dangerous nuclear rival. The result was the creation of a segregated civilian codebreaking unit known as the Traffic Processing Division --- The Plantation. Its 100 college-educated Black women made invaluable breakthroughs in the country’s 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 30 years later. In DECODING THE DEVIL, Sarah Valentine tells their remarkable story in full for the first time.
About the Book
As groundbreaking as CODE GIRLS and HIDDEN FIGURES, 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.
Facing 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 their most dangerous nuclear rival.
The 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 30 years later.
In this thrilling history, Sarah Valentine tells their remarkable story in full for the first time. DECODING THE DEVIL 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.
Audiobook available, read by Janina Edwards
