Looking Backward

Edward Bellamy imagines a young Bostonian, Julian West, who lies down to sleep in 1887 and wakes in the year 2000 to find the United States remade as a cooperative socialist commonwealth. Poverty, money, and cutthroat competition have vanished; industry is nationalized, citizens draw equal shares, and everyone retires at forty-five. Guided by the kindly Doctor Leete and drawn to his daughter, West learns how the new order runs and measures it against the injustices he left behind. Published in 1888, the book became one of the best-selling American novels of its century and inspired real political clubs and reform movements. Its blend of romance and social blueprint still sparks argument. Free to read in PDF and EPUB.