Editing Edward Bellamy (section)

==Biography==

===Early life===

Edward Bellamy was born in [[Chicopee, Massachusetts]]. His father was Rufus King Bellamy (1816–1886), a [[Baptist]] minister and a descendant of [[Joseph Bellamy]].<ref name=Quint74>Howard Quint, ''The Forging of American Socialism: Origins of the Modern Movement: The Impact of Socialism on American Thought and Action, 1886–1901.'' Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1953; p. 74.</ref> His mother, Maria Louisa Putnam Bellamy, was a Calvinist.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://spartacus-educational.com/USAbellamy.htm|title=Edward Bellamy|newspaper=Spartacus Educational|access-date=December 15, 2016}}</ref> She was the daughter of a Baptist minister named Benjamin Putnam, who was forced to withdraw from the ministry in [[Salem, Massachusetts]], following objections to his becoming a [[Freemason]].<ref>Joseph Schiffman, "Edward Bellamy's Religious Thought", ''Transactions and Proceedings of the Modern Language Association of America,'' vol. 68, no. 4 (Sep. 1953), p. 716.</ref>

Bellamy attended public school at Chicopee Falls before leaving for [[Union College]] of [[Schenectady, New York]], where he studied for just two semesters.<ref name=Quint74 /> Upon leaving school, he made his way to Europe for a year, spending extensive time in Germany.<ref name=Quint74 /> He briefly studied law but abandoned that field without ever having practiced as a lawyer, instead entering the world of journalism. In this capacity Bellamy briefly served on the staff of the ''[[New York Post]]'' before returning to his native Massachusetts to take a position at the ''Springfield Union''.<ref name=Quint74 />

At the age of 25, Bellamy developed [[tuberculosis]], the disease that would ultimately kill him.<ref name=Quint74 /> He suffered with its effects throughout his adult life. In an effort to regain his health, Bellamy spent a year in the [[Hawaiian Islands]] (1877 to 1878).<ref name=Quint74 /> Returning to the United States, he decided to abandon the daily grind of journalism in favor of literary work, which put fewer demands upon his time and his health.<ref name=Quint74 />

Bellamy married Emma Augusta Sanderson in 1882. The couple had two children.

===Literary career===

Bellamy's early novels, including ''Six to One'' (1878), ''[[Dr. Heidenhoff's Process]]'' (1880), and ''Miss Ludington's Sister'' (1885), were unremarkable works, making use of standard psychological plots.<ref>Quint, ''The Forging of American Socialism,'' pp. 74–75.</ref>

A turn to utopian science fiction with ''[[Looking Backward|Looking Backward, 2000–1887]],'' published in January 1888, captured the public imagination and catapulted Bellamy to literary fame.<ref name=Quint74 /> Its publisher could scarcely keep up with demand. Within a year it had sold some 200,000 copies, and by the end of the 19th century had sold more copies than any other book published in America up to that time except for ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'' by [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]] and ''[[Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ]]'' by [[Lew Wallace]].<ref>Arthur E. Morgan, ''Edward Bellamy''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1944; pp. 148, 252.</ref> The book gained an extensive readership in the United Kingdom as well, more than 235,000 copies being sold there between 1890 and 1935.<ref name=Bowman121>Bowman, ''The Year 2000'', p. 121.</ref>

In ''Looking Backward'', a non-violent revolution had transformed the American economy and thereby society; [[private property]] had been abolished in favor of [[state ownership]] of capital and the elimination of social classes and the ills of society that he thought inevitably followed from them.<ref name=EAL80>Franklin Rosemont, "Edward Bellamy (1850–98)," in [[Mari Jo Buhle]], [[Paul Buhle]], and [[Dan Georgakas]] (eds.), ''Encyclopedia of the American Left.'' First Edition. New York: Garland Publishing, 1990; p. 80.</ref> In the new world of the year 2000, there was no longer war, poverty, crime, prostitution, corruption, money, or [[taxes]].<ref name=EAL80 /> Neither did there exist such occupations seen by Bellamy as of dubious worth to society, such as politicians, lawyers, merchants, or soldiers.<ref name=EAL80 /> Instead, Bellamy's utopian society of the future was based upon the voluntary employment of all citizens between the ages of 21 and 45, after which time all would retire.<ref name=EAL80 /> Work was simple, aided by machine production, working hours short and vacation time long.<ref name=EAL80 /> The new economic basis of society effectively remade [[human nature]] itself in Bellamy's idyllic vision, with greed, maliciousness, untruthfulness, and insanity all relegated to the past.<ref name=EAL80 />