On November 14, 1889, Nelly Bly, a reporter for the popular newspaper the World, sailed from New York on a trip that would make her famous: an attempt to travel around the world in less than 80 days (inspired, of course, by Jules Verne). Eight and a half hours later, Elizabeth Bisland, the literary editor of the Cosmopolitan, boarded a westbound train in a reluctant--and largely forgotten--attempt to outrace Bly. Matthew Goodman tells their story in Eighty Days.
Goodman emphasizes both the differences and the surprising similarities between the brash investigative reporter from a Pennsylvania coal town and the Southern lady who educated herself in a ruined plantation's library. Alternating between their experiences, he contrasts their reactions to publicity, their fellow travelers (especially the British) and the new cultures they encounter. Even if you know in advance Bly will win, the race is suspenseful, complete with storms at sea, damaged ships, nearly missed connections, the kindness of strangers and a hair-raising train ride through western mountains.
Although the race between Bly and Bisland is engaging in its own right, Eighty Days is more than an adventure story. Goodman does not limit himself to a step-by-step narrative of his heroines' travels. Instead, he uses the race to illustrate the social impact of new modes of transportation, a growing popular press and new opportunities for women. The result is a social history of the U.S. on the verge of modernity. --Pamela Toler, blogging at History in the Margins