Showing results by author "Elizabeth Bisland" in All Categories

In a daring publicity stunt, reporter Elizabeth Bisland was dispatched on a whirlwind journey around the world, attempting to outdo the fictional Phileas Foggs 80-day adventure in Jules Vernes novel. Recruited by John Brisben Walker, the new owner of the fledgling Cosmopolitan, Bisland embarked westward from New York only six hours after being asked, on the same day as her competitor, Nellie Bly, who was sponsored by the popular New York World. This gripping tale of rivalry, ambition, and the sheer audacity of two women in the late 1800s captured the publics imagination, even though Bislands ...

In 1888, Nellie Bly, a feisty, investigative reporter for Joseph Pulitzer's New York World newspaper, pitched a story idea of traveling around the world in 75 days to beat the record achieved by Phileas Fogg, the character in Verne's book. While the editor thought it a great idea, he naturally thought the trip should be made by a man. The idea was shelved for over a year.