Looking Backward: 2000-1887

Looking Backward was the first great Futurist novel, and the most widely read book in the 19th century. Julian West, a rich young man, falls asleep in his house in Boston in 1887 and wakes up in the year 2000 to find that the deep social problems of his era have been resolved, and society has evolved into a prefect utopian state. Looking Backward was originally marketed by Bellamy's publisher as a light summer read. Little did anyone image the huge social movement that spontaneous grew up overnight in response to this book. Bellamy did predict the advent of radio and credit cards, and many of the social ills he addresses in Looking Backward are still with us.