Not all women accepted their place. Some sued, and won. Slowly women filled the jobs that had been traditionally reserved to men. Indeed, a woman was finally appointed to head the CIA in 2018. In recounting this history, Mundy barely mentions the emerging feminist movement. Yet without that movement putting pressure on politicians and changing cultural expectations, doors would not have finally opened for women in the CIA.
As history, the book documents the CIA’s shift from pursuing Communists during the Cold War, who sold secrets to the Russians, to jihadists who wanted to destroy America. It wasn’t a quick shift, which is one reason CIA leaders didn’t see 9/11 coming. As early as 1993, signs said al-Qaeda was planning to fly planes into strategic buildings in the US – even the CIA itself. The men didn’t take seriously a prediction proposed by women. Over time, that changed. Indeed it was women who confirmed that Osama bin Ladin was holed up in a compound in Pakistan – by reading the laundry hanging outside to dry.
This is a full featured book, with endnotes, a bibliography, and an index. It needs a glossary. There’s a lot of CIA lingo and several abbreviations, which the author explains when first used. Not everyone will remember their meaning when encountering them later on. It would be useful to be able to look them up.
The Sisterhood is a fascinating book, especially to those of us who started it knowing little about the CIA. By the end I thought that “the sisters” were more like cousins or even second cousins. Some held together or backed each other up against the old boys who mostly wanted pretty servants, not smart colleagues. But it was a very loose confederation, resembling distant rather than close family members. Yet, when they hung together, they could do amazing things and live very full lives.
Copyright © 2024 by Jo Freeman
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