Around the World in Seventy-Two Days

Around the World in Seventy-Two Days, published in 1890, is Nellie Bly's account of her record-breaking circumnavigation. Inspired by Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, Bly persuaded the New York World to send her on the journey, travelling by steamship and rail through England, France, Italy, Egypt, Ceylon, Hong Kong, and Japan. Her dispatches made her a national celebrity, and her arrival in New York was greeted by enormous crowds. The book is a vivid snapshot of late-Victorian travel and a testament to the determination of a woman who refused to be told something couldn't be done.