The Very Best of Nellie Bly: 10 Days in a Mad House and Around the World in Seventy-Two Days

by Nellie Bly

The Victorian journalist Nellie Bly (1864-1922) performed one of the most courageous acts in the history of investigative reporting by posing as an inmate at a Women’s lunatic asylum on Blackwell’s Island. Her exposé, titled "Ten Days in a Mad-House" led to a grand jury investigation, which resulted in a one million dollar increase in New York City’s budget for the care of the mentally ill.

"Around the World in Seventy-Two Days" chronicles the author’s 72-day trip around the world for Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper, the New York World. On her journey around the world on steamships and by train, Bly went through England, France, Italy, the Suez Canal, Ceylon, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan.

Audible Audio

Published September 11, 2020

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.