One of the fascinating stories of World War II took place at Bletchley Park, a 19th-century estate in Great Britain where a group of British codebreakers worked in secret to break Nazi ciphers, reducing the duration of the war by an estimated two years.  The espionage was central to Great Britain’s war strategy, and women played a key role as many were able to use degrees earned in the areas of mathematics, physics and engineering to perform complex calculations and cryptology.  In January 1945, at the peak of codebreaking efforts, nearly 10,000 personnel were working at Bletchley and its outstations. About three-quarters of these were women.

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World War II attracts interest from historians, veterans, students, and lifelong learners of all ages, and Bletchley Park is of special appeal because little was known about the project that brought men and women to work there during the war until the mid-1970s.  The resources assembled below cover the history, technology, and cultural aspects of the initiative at Bletchley Park, and include broader works about World War II that provide context for the espionage.  These varied sources will be of interest to academics and students as well as casual history buffs.