Bly vs Bisland: Beating Phileas Fogg in a Race Around The World

Following the publication of Jules Verne's novelAround the World in Eighty Daysin 1873, Americans had an increasing interest in travel. World travel was becoming even easier with the faster steamships of the day.

In 1888, Nellie Bly, a feisty, investigative reporter for Joseph Pulitzer'sNew York Worldnewspaper, 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 ...