Futility Closet

Victorian children's author Favell Lee Mortimer published three bizarre travel books that described a world full of death, vice, and peril. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll sample her terrifying descriptions of the lands beyond England and wonder what led her to write them. We'll also review the movie career of an Alaskan sled dog, learn about the Soviet Union's domestication of silver foxes, and puzzle over some curious noises in a soccer stadium. Favell Lee Mortimer's travel books for children are all available online: The Countries of Europe Described (1850) Far Off, or, Asia and Australia Described (1852) Far Off, or, Africa and America Described (1854) In 2005 Todd Pruzan published a collection of the most xenophobic passages, titled The Clumsiest People in Europe: Or, Mrs. Mortimer's Bad-Tempered Guide to the Victorian World. Listener mail: Here's a BBC documentary on 1925 serum run to Nome: Fast Company has an article about the breeding of friendly foxes by Russian research