Enjoyed the book- while not a biography of Nellie Bly or Elizabeth Bisland- It was an interesting snapshot-love to see an illustarted edition-had to keep going to the internet for pics of the places they went to ( )

Matthew Goodman creatively and comprehensively delivers accounts of both of the Around The World Journeys
of Nelly Bly and Elizabeth Bisland.

Although Nelly Bly beat Jules Verne's [Around the World in Eighty Days], she does it Eastward with special help via trains and ships,
while Elizabeth Bisland ran into a liar who stopped her Westward progress.

The author relates the backstory of Nelly Bly as she rose as a top reporter to be an admired and resourceful defender of human rights.

Unfortunately she leaves all that behind, ignoring the desperate situations of many people that she easily could have helped.
Instead selfishly, she focuses on her own race to win.

Though a Southerner whose family had suffered after The Civil War, Elizabeth Bisland shows more compassion for all races
and against the insufferable British Colonialism which targeted so much of The East. Bly admired The English for all they accomplished!

There were unexpected tales of horror - torture, execution, and animal cruelty - notably in Canton, which definitely threw a vote for help from England and America.
Then came the horror of The British forcing Opium on the Chinese, ending with the Opium War in 1842.

Readers will wish for happier endings: Nelly Bly brought most of it on herself, while Elizabeth stands as the heroine of the quest. ( )

I read this on the heels of Nellie Bly's Ten Days in a Mad-House. After finishing that one, I knew the name sounded familiar so I dug through my TBR shelf and, sure enough, I did have this! Yay!

I learned a LOT reading this book, but my main take-away was a reminder that there are many facets to Feminism. I saw a children's book the other day promoting Bly as a Feminist. I'm not totally sure she fits what our culture would call Feminist, but in many ways, she represents the kind of Feminist I would have been in those days. I doubt modern ones who would label her this way have read her take on Susan B. Anthony: "When she met Susan B. Anthony, president of the (National Woman Suffrage) convention, she did not hesitate to tell her that, 'if women wanted to succeed they had to go out as women. They had to make themselves as pretty and attractive as possible.'"

Speaking of controversial topics, I was a little shocked at the behaviour of the boatmen in Egypt who rowed up to the ship to help take passengers to land. They coerced/forced the English passengers into their boats, sometimes violently, and then held them captive in the water for payment. Westerners of those days are now looked down on for their prejudices toward people from other parts of the world, but if stories like these, as well as those about being swarmed by beggars when stepping off the boat, circulated back to home, it's no wonder they took this view. This is definitely barbaric behaviour.

On the other hand, I learned a lot about the British empire, what they did to acquire their empire, and the general arrogance of imperialism. I was not impressed.

There were not nearly as many details about Bisland's trip as Bly's. Perhaps it's because Bisland didn't keep as detailed a diary. Much of the portions of the book devoted to Bisland were padded with related info about someone or something else.

People were shocked that Bly could get by with so little luggage---yet she did have the advantage over Bisland of having some time to think things through. I think it's crazy rotten that Bisland literally had a couple hours between learning she was going to being put on a train. My surprise was with the fact that Bly, this popular reporter known for fighting injustice, didn't report on any of the inhumane issues she saw. Perhaps she was only an advocate when there was a clear safety net nearby.

I spent almost the entire book rooting for Bly, only to be so disgusted by her arrogance and dishonesty at the end that I switched my loyalty to Bisland. I lost quite a bit of respect for Bly---especially when she made up stories that Bisland had attempted to sabotage her. To make matters worse, Bisland's boss later blamed her losing on her inexperience and ineptitude. Poor girl didn't even want to make the trip in the first place!

The book lost me a couple times when it became heavy on the war talk and there were several instances of repeated details, but overall, I really did enjoy reading this and will likely hold on to it for awhile in case I choose to use it with my high schoolers.

My favorite quote was this one describing Bisland's thoughts while riding through the English countryside: "It was a landscape she felt she already knew from books; riding through it she was not learning but remembering." That's how I feel, too, when I'm in England. ( )

This is not so much a story about the two women who raced around the world as it is about the culture of the world at that time. It was very interesting to see how women and America were viewed during that time period. ( )

The fact that two women traveled around the world in 1889 to beat a fictional record makes this book worth reading. Unfortunately, parts of it come across as repetitive (because they travel in different directions but on a similar route). Still, a fun read. ( )