Around the World in Seventy-Two Days and Other Writings

by Nellie Bly

In 1885, Elizabeth Jane Cochran - pen name, Nellie Bly - was hired as one of the first female journalists after writing a scathing rebuttal to a misogynist newspaper column in the Pittsburgh Dispatch. The newspaper's editor was so taken aback by Bly's incendiary prose that he posted an ad asking the article's author to come work for him. Within five years, Ble had become the first "girl stunt reporter", going undercover to write wildly popular stories that no one at the time thought a woman could or should write. She committed herself to the Lunatic Asylum at Blackwell's Island for ten days to expose the abysmal treatment of the patients and later traveled around the world alone in seventy-two days, breaking Jules Verne's fictional record by eight days.

This volume consists of extracts from Bly's works, not the full texts, as well as contemporary newspaper articles connected with them.

Paperback

Published April 29, 2014

About the author

Nellie Bly (1864-1922) was the pen name of pioneer female journalist Elizabeth Jane Cochran. She remains notable for two feats: a record-breaking trip around the world, in emulation of Jules Verne's character Phileas Fogg (Bly completed the trip in seventy-two days) and an exposé, in which she faked insanity to study a mental institution from within. In addition to her writing, she was also an industrialist and charity worker. Bly died of pneumonia at St. Mark's Hospital in New York City in 1922 aged 57.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.