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Looking Backward: 2000-1887

cover of Looking Backward: 2000-1887
Author	Edward Bellamy
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Utopian novel
Publisher	William Ticknor
Released	1888
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	vii, 470 pp
ISBN	NA
Followed by	Equality

Looking Backward: 2000-1887 is a utopian novel by Edward Bellamy, a lawyer and writer from western Massachusetts, and was first published in 1888. It was written in reaction to the disillusionment with an increasingly competitive and industrial society. Looking Backward sold more than 1 million copies. His work known as "nationalism" inspired the formation of more than 160 Nationalist Clubs to propagate his ideas. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Edward Bellamy, circa 1889. ... In political geography and international politics a country is a geographical entity, a territory, most commonly associated with the notions of state or nation. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Utopian fiction is the creation of an ideal world as the setting for a novel. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... William Davis Ticknor (August 6, 1810-April 10, 1864) was an American publisher in Boston, Massachusetts and a founder of the publishing house Ticknor and Fields. ... Year 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... An ISBN barcode; the machine-readable barcode represents the 13-digit ISBN (e. ... Left panel (The Earthly Paradise, Garden of Eden), from Hieronymus Boschs The Garden of Earthly Delights. ... Edward Bellamy, circa 1889. ... Western Massachusetts is a loosely defined geographical region of the state of Massachusetts which contains the Berkshires and the Pioneer Valley. ... See also: 1887 in literature, other events of 1888, 1889 in literature, list of years in literature. ...

Synopsis

The book tells the story of Julian West, a young American who, towards the end of the 19th century, falls into a deep, hypnosis-induced sleep and wakes up more than a century later. He finds himself on the same spot (Boston) but in a totally changed world: It is the year 2000 and, while he was sleeping, the U.S.A. has been transformed into a socialist utopia. This book outlines Bellamy's complex thoughts about improving the future. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Socialism is a social and economic system (or the political philosophy advocating such a system) in which the economic means of production are owned and controlled collectively by the people. ...

The young man readily finds a guide who shows him around and explains all the advances of this new age, including, drastically reduced working hours for people performing menial jobs and community kitchens for busy housewives. Everyone retires with full benefits at age 45. The productive capacity of America is commonly owned, and the goods of society are equally distributed to its citizens.

Although the author was unable to envision the technology that would support some of his predictions in the future, they are frequently compared with actual social and technological developments since the book was written. For example, Julian West is taken to a store which, with its descriptions of cutting out the middleman to cut down on waste in a similar way to the consumers' cooperatives of his own day based on the Rochdale Principles of 1844, somewhat resembles a modern consumer wholesaler like Sam's Club or Costco. Bellamy also predicts classical music being available in the home through cable "telephone". A consumers cooperative is a business owned by its customers for their mutual gain. ... The Rochdale Principles are a set of ideals for the operation of cooperatives. ... Sams Club is a membership-only warehouse club owned and operated by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ... Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the world based on sales volume, headquartered in Issaquah, Washington, United States,[1] with its flagship warehouse in nearby Seattle. ... Cable radio or cable FM is a complementary concept to that of cable television, bringing radio transmissions into homes and businesses via coaxial cable. ...

Sequel

In 1897, Bellamy wrote a sequel, Equality, dealing with women's rights, education and many other issues. Bellamy wrote the sequel to elaborate and clarify many of the ideas merely touched upon in Looking Backward. 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

Sequels written by other authors include:

• Looking Beyond (1891), by Ludwig A. Geissler
• Looking Forward (1906), by Harry W. Hillman
• Looking Further Forward (1890), by Richard C. Michaelis
• Young West (1894), by Solomon Schindler
• Mr. East's Experiences in Mr. Bellamy's World (1891), by Conrad Wilbrandt

Year 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ... 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Solomon Schindler (1842-1915) was an American rabbi. ... Year 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...

Reaction

William Morris's 1890 utopia News from Nowhere was partly written in reaction against this utopia, which Morris did not find congenial. The book's descriptions of utopian urban planning had a practical influence on Ebenezer Howard's founding of the garden city movement in England, and on the design of the Bradbury Building in Los Angeles. William Morris, socialist and innovator in the Arts and Crafts movement William Morris (March 24, 1834 – October 3, 1896) was an English artist, writer, socialist and activist. ... See also: 1889 in literature, other events of 1890, 1891 in literature, list of years in literature. ... News from Nowhere is a classic work of utopian fiction written by the artist, designer and socialist pioneer William Morris. ... Urban planning is concerned with the ordering and design of settlements, from the smallest towns to the worlds largest cities. ... Ebenezer Howard (1850 - 1928) was a prominent British urban planner. ... Ebenezer Howards 3 magnets diagram which addressed the question Where will the people go?, the choices being Town, Country or Town-Country The garden city movement is an approach to urban planning that was founded in 1898 by Ebenezer Howard in England. ... Front entrance of Bradbury The Bradbury Building is an architectural landmark in Los Angeles, California, in the United States. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ...

During the Great Strikes of 1877, Eugene V. Debs, though already a union member, opposed the strikes and argued that there was no essential necessity for the conflict between capital and labor. However, Debs was influenced by the book to turn to a more socialist direction. He soon helped to form the American Railway Union. With supporters from the Knights of Labor and from the immediate vicinity of Chicago, workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company went on strike in June 1894. This came to be known as the Pullman Strike. Great Railroad Strike of 1877 The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 began on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, and ended some 45 days later after it was put down by local and state militias, as well as by federal troops. ... Eugene Victor Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American labor and political leader, one of the founders of the International Labor Union, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and five-time Socialist Party of America candidate for President of the United States. ... Socialism is a social and economic system (or the political philosophy advocating such a system) in which the economic means of production are owned and controlled collectively by the people. ... On June 20, 1893, railway workers gathered in Chicago, Illinois, and founded the American Railway Union (ARU), the largest union of its time, and the first industrial union in the United States. ... Pullman Strike began on May 11, 1894. ...

The book was re-written in 1974 by American science fiction writer Mack Reynolds as Looking Backward from the Year 2000. Matthew Kapell, a historian and anthropologist, examined this re-writing in his essay, "Mack Reynolds' Avoidance of his own Eighteenth Brumaire: A Note of Caution for Would-Be Utopians." Reynolds Mission to Horatius (1968), the first original novel based on the television show Star Trek Mack Reynolds (Dallas McCord Reynolds) (November 11, 1917 - January 30, 1983) was an American science fiction writer. ... Matthew Kapell (August 14, 1969-) is a historian and anthropologist best known for his 2004 edited volume (with William G. Doty) Jacking In to the Matrix Franchise: Cultural Reception and Interpretation. ... Napoléon Bonaparte in the coup détat of 18 brumaire. ...

In 1984, Herbert Knapp and Mary Knapp's "Red, White and Paradise: The American Canal Zone in Panama" appeared. The book was in part a memoir of their careers teaching at fabled Balboa High School, but also a re-interpretation of the Canal Zone as a creature of turn-of-the-century Progressivism, a workers' paradise. The Knapps employed Bellamy's "Looking Backward" as their heuristic model for understanding Progressive ideology as it shaped the Canal Zone.

References

• Bleiler, Everett (1948). The Checklist of Fantastic Literature. Chicago: Shasta Publishers, 46, 436. 

Everett Franklin Bleiler (born 1920) is an editor and bibliographer of science fiction and Fantasy. ...

External link

• Looking Backward From 2000 to 1887, available at Project Gutenberg.
• Available on Eserver
• American History: A Survey, Alan Brinkley. McGraw Hill, Columbia University. 2003.