Ten Days in a Mad-House

New York, 1887. Für ihren ersten Auftrag als freie Journalistin bei der aufstrebenden Tageszeitung Joseph Pulitzers, "New York World", soll Nellie Bly undercover aus der Frauenpsychiatrie auf Blackwell's Island berichten. Ob sie den Mut dazu habe? Die 23-Jährige zögert nicht, natürlich hat sie den. Der Weg in die Anstalt erweist sich als Kinderspiel. Doch Bly merkt schnell: Wer einmal drin ist, dessen Chancen stehen schlecht, jemals wieder herauszukommen.In ihrer bahnbrechenden Reportage berichtet die Undercover-Journalistin Nellie Bly von den desaströsen Zuständen und grauen haften Misshandlungen, deren Zeugin sie dort wurde. "Zehn Tage im Irrenhaus" ist ein Meilenstein des investigativen Journalismus und ein wichtiges Dokument der Psychiatriegeschichte.

Am 14. November 1889, zwei Jahre nach ihrem spektakulären Enthüllungsbericht über die Missstände in einer psychiatrischen Anstalt New Yorks, bricht die Star-Journalistin Nellie Bly zur Weltumrundung in Rekordzeit auf. Ausgerüstet ist die 25-Jährige dabei lediglich mit einem maßgeschneiderten Reisekleid, einem Mantel und einer Handtasche. Ein einziges Mal weicht Nellie Bly von ihrer Route ab, um im französischen Amiens den Romancier Jules Verne zu treffen, dessen fiktiven Rekord sie noch um acht Tage unterbieten wird.Blys Reise um die Erde in 72 Tagen wird zum journalistischen Coup des Jahres und zum Höhepunkt ihrer Karriere. Spätestens bei ihrer Rückkehr ist sie eine "nationale Persönlichkeit" (New York Times). Blys unterhaltsamer und unprätentiöser Bericht, der 1890 in New York erschien, gewährt einen seltenen Einblick in die Frühgeschichte des globalisierten Tourismus und der technischen Erschließung der Welt, ist jedoch zugleich auch ein Zeugnis kolonialen Größenwahns.

A compilation of original, unabridged newspaper articles by Elizabeth Jane Cochran, who wrote under the name Nellie Bly. By disguising her voice, mannerisms and appearance, this intrepid reporter gained admittance to New York's vast cultural underground of criminals, con artists, and frauds, and fearlessly exposed their scams and shenanigans to a rapt and growing audience on the front pages of Joseph Pulitzer's The New York World. Bly's reporting introduced the era of muckraking journalism, and originated the practice of undercover reporting that has remained a vital journalistic art to the present day.

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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.

The mystery of Central Park; A Novel, a classical book, was published more than a century ago and has been considered important throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we at Alpha Editions have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies of their original work and hence the text is clear and readable.

In 1887, Nellie Bly stormed into the office of the New York World, one of the leading newspapers in the country. She expressed interest in writing a story on the immigrant experience in the United States. Although, the editor declined her story he challenged Bly to investigate one of New York's most notorious mental hospitals. Bly not only accepted the challenge, she decided to feign mental illness to gain admission and expose how patients were treated. With this courageous and bold act Bly cemented her legacy as one of the foremost female journalists in history.Nellie Bly was born Elizabeth Jane Cochran on May 5, 1864. Her family owned a lucrative mill in Cochran, Pennsylvania. At the age of six, Bly lost her father. Unable to maintain the land or their house, the family moved. Her mother also remarried but later divorced due to abuse. While attending Indiana Teacher's College, Elizabeth added an "e" to her last name becoming Elizabeth Jane Cochrane. Due to the family's financial crisis she was unable to finish her education. No longer in school, Bly focused on helping her mother run a boardinghouse. One day an upset Bly decided to pen an open letter to the editor of the Pittsburgh Dispatch. Her short but important piece pointed out the paper's negative representation of women. The editor not only read Bly's response, he printed her rebuttal, and offered Bly a job as columnist. As a newspaper writer, she took the pen name Nellie Bly. Although Bly was a popular columnist, she was often asked to write pieces that only addressed women.Wanting to write pieces that addressed both men and women, Bly began looking for a paper that would allow her to write more serious work. In 1886, she moved to New York City. As a woman, Bly found it extremely hard for her to find work. After pretending to be mentally ill for 10 days, the New York World published Bly's articles about her time in the insane asylum on Blackwell's Island in a six-part series. Ten Days in a Mad-House quickly made Bly one of the most famous journalists in the United States. Furthermore, her hands-on approach to stories developed into a practice now called investigative journalism. Bly's successful career reached new heights when she decided to travel around the world after reading the popular book Around the World in 80 Days. Her trip only took 72 days, which was a world record. Bly would only hold it for a few months.In 1895, Bly married millionaire Robert Seamen and retired from journalism. Bly's husband died in 1903 leaving her in control of a massive manufacturing company. In business, her curiosity and independent spirit flourished. Bly went on to patent several inventions related to oil manufacturing, many of which are still used today. In her later years Bly returned to journalism, covering the woman suffrage movement and World War I. While still working as a writer Bly died from pneumonia on January 27, 1922. (womenshistory.org)

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Avec son audace légendaire, Nellie Bly se spécialise dans les reportages clandestins qui révèlent les injustices cachées de la société. Dans "Dix jours dans un asile", Nellie Bly plonge au coeur de l'horreur pour dévoiler le sort des femmes internées à l'hôpital de Blackwell. En 1887, travaillant pour le "New York World", elle accepte de s'infiltrer dans le Blackwell's Island Hospital pour exposer la réalité cruelle de la vie des patientes."Etrangement, plus je me comportais normalement, plus on me considérait comme folle..." écrit-elle, résumant ainsi le calvaire de ces femmes enfermées dans un endroit sinistre, où elles endurent des sévices inimaginables. Ce récit poignant est nom seulment un témoignage accablant des conditions de vie à l'asile, mais aussi une dénonciation vibrante des injustices subies par ces femmes oubliées de tous.