Ten Days In A Mad-House - Illustrated Edition | Classic American Memoir & Mental Health History | Perfect for Book Clubs & History Enthusiasts

~Kindle edition ASIN: B0049P1O16 (purchased when it was Free over the holidays)This ebook version of TEN DAYS IN A MAD-HOUSE actually has 3 different investigations by Nellie Bly. The main and longest treatise is about her experiences at the Blackwell Island institute for the insane. The other two stories take a look at the working environments of young women at the bottom rungs of industrial revolution.Nellie Bly as a narrator stands out as a pretty engaging character. Born a year before the end of the American Civil War she is nothing if not spunky and she charges into situations where the more cautious might not tread. Her story telling in TEN DAYS IN A MAD-HOUSE is a bit verbose, but effective. I thought that I wasn't going to get caught up in the story but Nellie succeeded in getting me riled up at the treatment of these women.Readers looking for DRAMA in all caps, will likely be disappointed. But anyone looking for insight into the 1880s will probably find this a good read. I enjoyed the shorter pieces just as much as TEN DAYS. Nellie has a way of offsetting the hardship with gentler touches of kindness. In the short pieces you can see the inhumanity side-by-side with human kind's better aspects.The adventure with the insane asylum, on the other hand, offers insight not only into how little they understood about insanity, but also about how organizations can slip into corruption. It was also fascinating to see that immigration was in full force as Jews, Germans, and Cubans were players on this stage. These were people coming to America with few skills and no English. Like our author they were adventurous souls.SUMMARYInteresting historical piece. The writing is a bit verbose and as it was part of a newspaper series there are quite a few pages of build up before you get to the 'meat'. I liked the two shorter stories just as much as TEN DAYS. It was a rewarding read.