Looking Backward, 2000 to 1887

Julian West, a wealthy young Bostonian, falls into a hypnotic sleep in his underground bedroom in 1887 and wakes in the year 2000. Boston has become a peaceful, beautiful city without poverty, crime, money or politics: the nation owns all industry, every citizen serves in an 'industrial army' from twenty-one to forty-five and receives an equal income on a credit card, goods are ordered from great central stores, and music is piped into homes by telephone. His host, Dr Leete, explains how it all came about.

Edward Bellamy (1850–1898) published the novel in 1888, and it was one of the best-selling American books of its century, inspiring hundreds of 'Nationalist' clubs devoted to its ideas. It is remembered today for predicting the credit card and broadcast music. Compare William Morris's reply, News from Nowhere.