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Eighty Days
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Eighty Days (2013) (edit title/settings)

Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-making Race Around the World

by Matthew Goodman (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

On November 14, 1889 , Nellie Bly, the crusading young female reporter for Joseph Pulitzer’s World newspaper, left New York City by steamship on a quest to break the record for the fastest trip around the world. Also departing from New York that day—and heading in the opposite direction by... read more

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The dramatic race that ensued would span twenty-eight thousand miles, captivate the nation, and change both competitors’ lives forever. The two women were a study in contrasts. Nellie Bly was a scrappy, hard-driving, ambitious reporter from Pennsylvania coal country who sought out the most... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

The dramatic race that ensued would span twenty-eight thousand miles, captivate the nation, and change both competitors’ lives forever. The two women were a study in contrasts. Nellie Bly was a scrappy, hard-driving, ambitious reporter from Pennsylvania coal country who sought out the most sensational news stories, often going undercover to expose social injustice. Genteel and elegant, Elizabeth Bisland had been born into an aristocratic Southern family, preferred novels and poetry to newspapers, and was widely referred to as the most beautiful woman in metropolitan journalism. Both women, though, were talented writers who had carved out successful careers in the hypercompetitive, male-dominated world of big-city newspapers. Eighty Days brings these trailblazing women to life as they race against time and each other, unaided and alone, ever aware that the slightest delay could mean the difference between victory and defeat. A vivid real-life re-creation of the race and its aftermath, from its frenzied start to the nail-biting dash at its finish, Eighty Days is history with the heart of a great adventure novel. Here’s the journey that takes us behind the walls of Jules Verne’s Amiens estate, into the back alleys of Hong Kong, onto the grounds of a Ceylon tea plantation, through storm-tossed ocean crossings and mountains blocked by snowdrifts twenty feet deep, and to many more unexpected and exotic locales from London to Yokohama. Along the way, we are treated to fascinating glimpses of everyday life in the late nineteenth century—an era of unprecedented technological advances, newly remade in the image of the steamship, the railroad, and the telegraph. For Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland—two women ahead of their time in every sense of the word—were not only racing around the world. They were also racing through the very heart of the Victorian age.

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First Sentence edit see section history

Nellie Bly was born Elizabeth Jane Cochran in western Pennsylvania on May 5,1864, though confusion about her exact age would persist throughout her life - a good deal of that confusion engineered by Bly herself, for she was never quite as young as she claimed to be.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Prologue
1. A Free American Girl
2. The Newspaper Gods of Gotham
3. The Secret Cupboard
4. How Quick Can a Woman Go Around theWorld?
5. I Think I can BeatPhileas Fogg's Record
6. Living by Railroad Time
7. A Map of theWorld
8. Et Ego in Arcadia
9. Baksheesh
10. An English Market Town in China
11. The Guessing Match has Begun in Beautiful Earnest
12. TheOther Woman is Going to Win
13. The Temple of the Dead
14. The Mysterious Travel Agent
15. The Special Train
16. From Jersey to Jersey is Around the World
17. Father Time Outdone
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Illustration Credits
Index

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Matthew Goodman (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Ballentine Books
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2013
ISBN: 978-0-345-52726-4
Page Count: 449

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: G440 B67136 G66 2013
  • Dewey: 910.4'109252

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