Ten Days in a Mad-House: Feigning Insanity in Order to Reveal Asylum Horrors
About this ebook
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.
About the author
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.
