Bellamy's Chicopee: A Laboratory for Utopia?

John R. Mullin, University of Massachusetts

Abstract

While there are hundreds of books and articles written on Bellamy and his utopian perspectives, few have realistically or comprehensively focused on the influence of his home community of Chicopee, Massachusetts, in the development of his thoughts, ideas, and concepts. What is most remarkable about this shortcoming is that historian after historian and political theorist after theorist acknowledge that Chicopee, as a place, was critical to Bellamy's perspectives of a utopian future.