cryptography

In the South Pacific in 1944 and 1945, military battles raged between the United States and Japan. Surrounded by rattling bullets and exploding bombs, a group of Navajo Marines sent secret messages back and forth. They used a code they had created from the Navajo language, a code the enemy was never able to crack. These young men had been recruited from their homes in the American Southwest. They brought with them incredible physical stamina and a language that had never been written down. Learn more about the Navajo code talkers---brave, creative heroes who used their unbreakable code to help the Allies win the war.

Recalls the history of the 10,000 American women who served in the U.S. Army and Navy as code breakers during World War II.

Describes the role of a select group of Navajo Marines who developed a code based on their own native language that provided a means for secure communications among American forces in the Pacific during World War II.

Math has always been key to warfare. From making sure an army has enough supplies to recording casualties and damage, discover how math and calculations lie at the heart of warfare.

Discusses the heroic actions and experiences of the Navajo code talkers and the impact they made during times of war and conflict.

"The author's great-uncle John Bear King was a Sioux Indian in the First Cavalry in the Second World War. Her book follows seven Sioux who put aside a long history of prejudice against their people and joined the fight against Japan, using their native language as a secret code for the Americans. The Sioux and other tribal code-talking groups have historically taken a backseat to the Navajo Code Talkers, until a presidential act of recognition was signed in 2008"--Provided by publisher.

World War I is often viewed as a war fought by armies of millions living and fighting in trenches, aided by brutal machinery that cost the lives of many. But behind all of this an intellectual war was also being fought between engineers, chemists, code-breakers, physicists, doctors, mathematicians, and intelligence gatherers. This hidden war was to make a positive and lasting contribution to how war was conducted on land, at sea, and in the air, and most importantly, life at home.

A portrait of the men and women who worked as spies and code breakers during World War II.

Describes how the American military in World War II used a group of Navajo Indians to create an indecipherable code based on their native language.