Looking Backward: 2000-1887
Edward Bellamy, Eliot Fintushel (Afterword), Walter James MillerBooks.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward: 2000-1887 (1888) is one of the most influential utopian novels in English. The narrative follows Julian West, who goes to sleep in Boston in 1887 and wakes in the year 2000 to find that the era of competitive capitalism is long over, replaced by an era of co-operation. Wealth is produced by an "industrial army" and every citizen receives the same wageSynopsis
Published in 1888 to wide popularity, the novel looks at a utopian future that has solved the problems of the day. The main character, Julian West, wakes up in the year 2000, falls in love and views all the improvements made in 113 years: crime, poverty, and warfare eliminated; great cultural strides forward; a system of state capitalism in place of economic chaos.
Booknews
First published in 1888, Bellamy's utopian novel concerns a 19th century Bostonian who awakes from a sleep to find himself in the year 2000 in a world of near-perfect cooperation and prosperity. Historian Daniel Borus adds a 28-page introduction, a chronology of Bellamy's life, a selected bibliography, and questions to consider when reading the novel. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)