He defines his perfect society as the antithesis of his current society. Bellamy presents Americans with portraits of a desirable future and of their present day. The author thus employs projections of the year 2000 to put 1887 society under scrutiny. Bitter strikes occurred as labor unions were just beginning to appear and large trusts dominated the nation’s economy. Younkins has argued: "This novel of social reform was published in 1888, a time when Americans were frightened by working class violence and disgusted by the conspicuous consumption of the privileged minority. Set in Boston, the book's hero, Julian West, falls into a hypnotic sleep and wakes in the year 2000, to find he is living in a socialist utopia where people co-operate rather than compete. Bellamy became a socialist after reading The Cooperative Commonwealth: An Exposition of Modern Socialism by Laurence Gronlund. Heidenhoff's Process (1880) and Miss Ludington's Sister (1884). He later moved to the New York Post.īellamy also had several novels published including The Duke of Stockbridge (1879), Dr. Bellamy studied law but determined to be a writer, he began working for the newspaper, the Springfield Union. His father, Rufus King Bellamy, was a Baptist minister, whereas his mother, Maria Louisa Putnam Bellamy, was a Calvinist. Edward Bellamy was born at Chicopee Fa lls, Massachusetts, on 26th March, 1850.
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