Bellamy, Edward

Edward Bellamy (1850–1898) was an American journalist and author, born in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Bellamy is best known for Looking Backward, a utopian socialist story in which he imagines a world free from the economic inequalities of late-19th-century America. Wildly popular, the book spawned a social movement. Members, calling themselves Nationalists, advocated for the end of private property, currency, and all forms of competition. Bellamy died of tuberculosis at the age of 48. The son of a Baptist minister, Edward Bellamy briefly attended Union College in Schenectady, New York. Leaving school before graduation, he traveled extensively in Europe before returning to New York to pursue a career in journalism. Although Bellamy’s earlier literary works do not address political themes, he was galvanized by awareness of growing ...