Edward Bellamy

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Edward Bellamy (March 26, 1850 – May 22, 1898) was an American author, journalist, and political activist best known for his utopian book, Looking Backward.

Bellamy's vision of a peaceful future world fueled the establishment of several "Nationalist Clubs" dedicated to Bellamy's political propagation. Bellamy started Looking Backward in 1888 after working as a writer and completing several unremarkable books.

Looking Backward was one of the most commercially successful books ever published in the United States, and it attracted a generation of intellectuals who were largely alienated from Gilded Age's dark side.

Bellamy formed The New Country newspaper in the early 1890s and began to encourage joint action between the various Nationalist Clubs and the emerging Populist Party.

In 1897, he published Equality, a sequel to Looking Backward, and died the next year.

Early years

Edward Bellamy was born in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Rufus King Bellamy (1816-1896), a Baptist minister and a descendant of Joseph Bellamy, was his father. Maria Louisa Putnam Bellamy, his mother, was a Calvinist. She was the niece of a Baptist minister named Benjamin Putnam, who was forced to leave the ministry in Salem, Massachusetts, due to objections to his becoming a Freemason.

Bellamy attended public school in Chicopee Falls before leaving for Union College of Schenectady, New York, where he enrolled for only two semesters. Bellamy migrated to Europe for a year after leaving school, spent extensive time in Germany. Bellamy briefly studied law but decided against going back to school to work as a lawyer, instead embarking on the field of journalism. Bellamy spent a brief time on the New York Post before returning to Massachusetts to work at the Springfield Union.

Bellamy's father, who would eventually die, contracted tuberculosis at the age of 25. Throughout his adult life, he was plagued by its effects. Bellamy spent a year in the Hawaiian Islands (1877 to 1878) in an attempt to regain his health. Bellamy, a journalist who returned to the United States, decided against journalistic journalism in favour of literary fiction, which made less demands on his time and his health.

Bellamy married Emma Augusta Sanderson in 1882. Two children were born when the couple married.

Bellamy's early books, including Six to One (1878), Dr. Heidenhoff's Process (1880), and Miss Ludington's Sister (1885), were unremarkable works that made use of conventional psychological plots.

Looking Backward, 2000-188, published in January 1888, captured the national imagination and catapulted Bellamy to literary fame. The book's publisher could only keep up with demand. The book had sold some 200,000 copies within a year, and by the end of the 19th century, it had sold more copies than every other book published in America, except for Harriet Beecher Stowe and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace. The book became a hit in the United Kingdom, with more than 235,000 copies being sold there between 1890 and 1935.

A nonviolent revolution had transformed the American economy and society, and vice versa; private property had been banned in favour of state control of capital, and the removal of social classes and other social injustices that inevitably followed from them, according to Looking Backward. There was no longer war, hunger, violent, prostitution, corruption, mismanagement, money, or taxes in the new world of 2000. Neither did Bellamy's list of unlawful service to society include politicians, lawyers, merchants, or soldiers. Rather, Bellamy's utopian society of the future was based on voluntary participation of all citizens aged 21 to 45, after which time, both citizens would have retired. Machine manufacturing, computer assisted manufacturing, working hours were short, and vacation time was long. In Bellamy's idyllic vision, the new economic base of society remade human nature itself, with greed, murder, untrueness, and insanity all relegated to the past.

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Literary career

Bellamy's early books, including Six to One (1878), Dr. Heidenhoff's Process (1880), and Miss Ludington's Sister (1885), were among the first to use standard psychological plots.

Looking Backward, 2000–1887, which appeared in January 1888, captured the public imagination and launched Bellamy to literary prominence. The book's publisher could barely keep up with demand. Within a year, the book had sold over 200,000 copies, and by the end of the 19th century, it had sold more copies than any other book published in America up to that time, except for Harriet Beecher Stowe and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace. The book gained a large readership in the United Kingdom as well, with more than 235,000 copies being sold there between 1890 and 1935.

A nonviolent revolution had transformed the American economy and, therefore society; private property had been banned in favour of state ownership of capital and the elimination of social classes and other social injustices that inevitably followed from them; There was no longer war, hunger, violence, prostitution, corruption, mismanagement, money, or taxes in the year 2000. Neither did Bellamy's depicted professions of questionable value to society, such as politicians, lawyers, merchants, or soldiers. Rather, Bellamy's utopian society of the future was based on voluntary service of all citizens aged 21 to 45, after which time no one would retire. Machine manufacturing, shorter working hours, and vacation time were all within reach. In Bellamy's idyllic vision, the new economic base of society effectively remade human nature itself, with greed, vengeance, untrueness, and insanity were all banished to the past.

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