Books by Nellie Bly

In 1887, journalist Nellie Bly posed as a mentally ill, homeless woman in order to expose conditions at the Blackwell's Island asylum in New York City. Her descriptions of the neglect and abuse women residents endured shocked readers, prompted improvements in the treatment of the mentally ill, and remain a landmark in the history of investigative journalism.

Nellie Bly oli aikansa tunnetuimpia toimittajia. Hän oli valmis ottamaan suuria riskejä tutkivan journalismin vuoksi. Bly oli myös nainen – ei mikään itsestäänselvyys toimittajapiireissä 1800-luvun lopun Yhdysvalloissa. Bly kohtasikin paljon ennakkoluuloja sukupuolensa takia, mutta hän ei niistä lannistunut.Maailman ympäri 72 päivässä on ainutlaatuinen kuvaus Blyn kunnianhimoisesta juttukeikasta. Bly ehdotti New York Worldin päätoimittajalle, voisiko hän lähteä kiertämään maailmaa ja raportoida samalla matkasta. Ideana oli kiertää maailma nopeammin ympäri kuin Jules Vernen romaanissa Matka maailman ympäri 80 päivässä. Lehti lämpeni idealle – ja niin Bly lähti matkaan. Bly kirjoitti tiiviisti artikkeleita matkansa käänteistä ja lukijat odottivat innolla päivityksiä. Maailman ympäri 72 päivässä on koostettu samaisista artikkeleista.Nellie Bly on yhdysvaltalaisen tutkivan journalistin Elizabeth Jane Cochranin (1864–1922) käyttämä kirjailijanimi. Bly tunnetaan muun muassa teoksestaan Kymmenen päivää mielisairaalassa, jossa hän kirjautuu mielisairaalaan tutkiakseen sen toiminnan epäkohtia.

"She was part of the 'stunt girl' movement that was very important in the 1880s and 1890s as these big, mass-circulation yellow journalism papers came into the fore." -Brooke KroegerAround the World in Seventy-Two Days (1890) is a travel narrative by American investigative journalist Nellie Bly. Proposed as a recreation of the journey undertaken by Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days (1873), Bly's journey was covered in Joseph Pulitzer's popular newspaper the New York World, inspiring countless others to attempt to surpass her record. At the time, readers at home were encouraged to estimate the hour and day of Bly's arrival, and a popular board game was released in commemoration of her undertaking.Embarking from Hoboken, noted investigative journalist Nellie Bly began a voyage that would take her around the globe. Bringing only a change of clothes, money, and a small travel bag, Bly travelled by steamship and train through England, France-where she met Jules Verne-Italy, the Suez Canal, Ceylon, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. Sending progress reports via telegraph, she made small reports back home while recording her experiences for publication upon her return. Despite several setbacks due to travel delays in Asia, Bly managed to beat her estimated arrival time by several days despite making unplanned detours, such as visiting a Chinese leper colony, along the way. Unbeknownst to Bly, her trip had inspired Cosmopolitan's Elizabeth Brisland to make a similar circumnavigation beginning on the exact day, launching a series of copycat adventures by ambitious voyagers over the next few decades. Despite being surrounded by this air of popularity and competition, however, Bly took care to make her journey worthwhile, showcasing her skill as a reporter and true pioneer of investigative journalism.Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book. With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

Originally appearing as a series of articles in "New York World" magazine and then published as a book in 1887, "Ten Days in a Mad-House" by the journalist Nellie Bly is the shocking true account of her time spent undercover at the Woman's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island in New York. Bly posed as a madwoman and was able to convince several doctors to have her committed to the asylum in order to expose the horrible conditions the female patients there were subjected to. Bly spent ten days in the asylum before the editors of the "New York World magazine" convinced the authorities to release her. In that time, she documented shocking and inhumane conditions: poor and rotting food, patients chained to benches, chairs, and each other for hours at a time, freezing water baths, rodent infestations, and abuse at the hands of nurses and staff. After her release, Bly's chronicle of these abhorrent conditions was an instant success and led to significant legal reform, including a grand jury investigation and increased funding for government services for the mentally ill. This searing and powerful expose forever changed the public perception of the mentally ill and how they should be cared for. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

Ten Days in A Madhouse is the true account of investigative journalist Nellie Bly's confinement inside an insane asylum. In 1887 the young female reporter entered the asylum under the guise of insanity to investigate rumors of brutality and neglect at the infamous Blackwell's Island Insane Asylum in New York City. The asylum was underfunded, grossly overcrowded, and plagued with scandal. In the 1880s the mentally insane were not treated as patients but as dangerous lunatics that had to be controlled by force, confined to cells, and kept out of the public eye.Before Bly began her investigation, famed author Charles Dickens, visited the institution and wrote, "...everything had a lounging, listless, madhouse air, which was very painful. The moping idiot, cowering down with long disheveled hair; the gibbering maniac, with his hideous laugh and pointed finger; the vacant eye, the fierce wild face, the gloomy picking of the hands and lips, and munching of the nails: there they were all, without disguise, in naked ugliness and horror."Once committed, she found it near impossible to get out. "From the moment I entered the insane ward on the Island," writes Bly, "I made no attempt to keep up the assumed role of insanity. I talked and acted just as I do in ordinary life. Yet strange to say, the more sanely I talked and acted, the crazier I was thought to be by all...." Now trapped, Bly was tormented with rotted food, cruel attendants, and cramped and diseased conditions. After talking with other patients she became convinced many were just as sane as she was. In fact, the staff of the asylum, some of which were convicts from the nearby prison, was more frightening than the inmates.She was unable to convince the doctors she was not a lunatic and to let her free. Only with the aid of her editor was she able to escape and write about her harrowing experience trapped inside a madhouse.

In 1887 the pioneering reporter faked dementia and had herself committed to an insane asylum. This account of her incarceration shocked readers and led to a nationwide reexamination of conditions and practices in asylums.

Born Elizabeth Jane Cochran, the author was renowned as America's first 'girl stunt reporter'. She was a pioneer of investigative journalism, including an expose of patient treatment at a mental asylum and a travelogue from her record-breaking race around the world in emulation of Phileas Fogg. This title deals with her works.