8 h 43 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if you woke to find that money had vanished and your nation had become everyone's employer?
Julian West falls asleep in Boston in 1887 and wakes in the year 2000. The wealthy young man finds a city whose rules he no longer understands. Dr. Leete welcomes him and explains a society built around shared work and equal credit. Julian must rethink the world he once takes for granted.
In Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, 2000 to 1887, the future becomes a place to question capitalism, wealth and poverty. Long, friendly conversations explore how people work, eat and live together. Alongside this guided tour, Julian grows close to Edith Leete, whose warmth gives his strange new life a more personal pull.
What you’ll discover
- A stranger in Boston See familiar city life become strange through the eyes of a visitor from another century.
- Work without rival employers Explore Bellamy's industrial army, where every citizen serves and the nation directs the work.
- A world without money Follow Julian's questions about equal credit and what becomes of rich and poor.
- The texture of daily life Visit public dining halls and discover how music and meals fit this imagined society.
- Warmth beside the arguments Meet Edith Leete and follow a quiet love story alongside the book's social questions.
Is it for you?
This summary suits anyone curious about utopian fiction, the history of socialist ideas, or how the nineteenth century pictured the future. It also suits readers of science fiction. If you want fast action and complex characters, the book's long conversations may feel slow.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A sleepless rich man in 1887 Boston
- Julian wakes in a new century
- One nation becomes the only employer
- Everyone serves in the industrial army
- Every citizen draws the same credit
- Daily life: music, meals and a sermon
- The old evils have lost their cause
- Julian, Edith and the weight of conscience
- How the book is told and what it left
Who’s who
- Julian WestA rich young Bostonian of 1887 who sleeps for over a century and must learn to understand a very different society.
- Dr. LeeteA kindly physician in the year 2000 who finds Julian and patiently explains how his nation works and how it came to be.
- Edith LeeteThe doctor's clever, warm daughter, who shows Julian the city and shares a special family link with his past.
- Mrs. LeeteThe doctor's gracious wife, who welcomes the stranger into her home and helps him feel at ease.
- Edith BartlettJulian's fiancée in 1887, whose memory shapes his feelings about the world he has lost.
- Dr. PillsburyThe mesmerist who puts Julian into the deep trance that carries him across the years.
- Mr. BartonA preacher whose Sunday sermon, heard by telephone, gives Julian a view of the new age's faith.
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Looking Backward, 2000 to 1887
by Edward Bellamy· 1888
A man wakes in a future society organized around equality.
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Language: English
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 9
A sleepless rich man in 1887 Boston
The story opens with Julian West, a young man from a wealthy Boston family. He tells it years later, looking back on his strange adventure. In 1887 he lives on inherited money and has never had to work. He is engaged to Edith Bartlett, the daughter of another good family, and they plan to marry once the house he is building for them is finished.
Julian's world is not calm. Strikes spread through the country, and workers and employers are in open conflict. Many people fear that society might break apart. Julian pays little attention to the poor around him, and the delay in building the house comes partly from a builders' strike. Bellamy uses this small detail to show how labor trouble touches even the comfortable.
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The author
Edward Bellamy
1850–1898 · American novelist and socialist
Edward Bellamy was an American novelist and social visionary best known for Looking Backward, 2000 to 1887, the utopian classic that imagined a cooperative future America and inspired a nationwide political movement in the 1890s.
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Questions about Looking Backward, 2000 to 1887
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What is Looking Backward about?
It tells of Julian West, a Bostonian who sleeps from 1887 to 2000. He wakes to find a nation that owns all industry, shares wealth equally and has ended poverty, and the book shows how it works.
Is Looking Backward a true story?
No, it is a novel. Edward Bellamy published it in 1888 as a work of imagination to argue for reform. Its time travel is a story device, and its future society is his own proposal.
What is the industrial army in Looking Backward?
It is Bellamy's name for the national labor force. Every citizen serves from twenty-one to forty-five, picks a trade after a period of common labor, and then retires with full support.
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