Editing Edward Bellamy (section)

===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 />