Ten Days in a Mad-House

Pioneering journalist Nellie Bly went undercover in the late 1800s to shed light on the horrific conditions of Victorian mental asylums. This is the eye-opening account of her experience.

Nellie Bly feigned insanity to be admitted to a mental institution with the intent of exposing its awful conditions first-hand. Her account reveals the institution’s inhumane treatment, abuse of power, and unsanitary environment, demonstrating the unnerving ease with which a sane woman is admitted to the hospital and the struggle she faces to escape. The publication of Ten Days in a Mad-House led to an entirely new journalistic approach and launched the stunt girl reporting era. The chapters in this compelling volume include: A Delicate Mission Pronounced Insane Inside the Mad-House Promenading with Lunatics Incidents of Asylum Life The Grand Jury Investigation Breathing new life into this fantastic journalistic expose, Ten Days in a Mad-House has been republished by Read & Co. Books featuring an author biography by Frances E. Willard and Mary A. Livermore.

Author Biography

Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman (1864-1922) was born Elizabeth Jane Cochran in Pennsylvania, USA. Better known by her pen name, Nellie Bly, the journalist’s most famous works include the account of her record-breaking world trip, ‘Around the World in Seventy-Two Days’ (1890), and her mental institution exposé, ‘Ten Days in a Mad-House’ (1887), in which she went undercover to reveal the truth about the conditions of asylums. Bly was a pioneering writer, introducing the trend of stunt girl reporting.