Dr. Heidenhoff's Process concerns a doctor who develops a mechanical method of eradicating painful memories from people's brains so that they can feel good about life again. The protagonist persuades his lover to try the process after she has been seduced by a rival. She is transformed until the protagonist awakes and realizes that he has dreamt of the doctor and his process and that his lover has committed suicide.

Edward Bellamy (1850-1898) was an American author and socialist, most famous for his utopian novel, Looking Backward, a tale set in the distant future of the year 2000. Bellamy's vision of a harmonious future world inspired the formation of at least 165 "Nationalist Clubs" dedicated to the propagation of Bellamy's political ideas and working to make them a practical reality.