Ten Days in a Madhouse by Nellie Bly

 

I listened to the unabridged audio version of Ten Days in a Madhouse by Nellie Bly and narrated by Rebecca Gibel. Listening time for Ten Days in a Madhouse is 3 hours, 25 minutes.

I enjoyed this work of nonfiction/investigative reporting very much!! It's a quick listen and well narrated. Nellie Bly was an American journalist and also a pioneer in her field as she "launched a new kind of investigative journalism" according to Wikipedia.

One of Bly's more famous antics was going undercover at a women's insane asylum for ten days to investigate reports of abuse, neglect, and brutality towards the woman patients on Blackwell's Island. This meant that Bly herself had to be committed in order to witness firsthand the activities of the staff towards patients on Blackwell's Island. What Nellie Bly witnessed is horrific and is the topic of her book, Ten Days in a Madhouse.

Below is the publisher's summary for Ten Days in a Madhouse by Nellie Bly from Chirp's website:

In 1887, Nellie Bly had herself committed to the notorious Blackwell’s Island insane asylum in New York City with the goal of discovering what life was like for its patients. While there, Bly experienced firsthand the shocking abuse and neglect of its inmates, from inedible food to horrifyingly unsanitary conditions. Ten Days in a Mad-House is Bly’s expose of the asylum. Written for Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World, Bly’s account chronicles her 10 days at Blackwell’s Island and, upon its publication, drew public attention to the abuse of the institutionalized and led to a grand jury investigation of the facility. This series of articles established Bly as a pioneering female journalist and remains a classic of investigative reporting.

I am giving Ten Days in a Madhouse by Nellie Bly a rating of 4 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!