Looking Backward: 2000-1887 Summary
Edward Bellamy

Edward Bellamy (1850-1898) was an American novelist, an economic propagandist, and a social reformer. His memorable achievement is the novel Looking Backward.Edward Bellamy was born on March 26, 1850,... Read more

In the essay that follows, Sancton examines Bellamy's religious and philosophical views as they are expressed in Looking Backward. It is a mistake to say of Edward Bellamy, as many have done... Read more

In the essay that follows, Lipow locates the popularity of Bellamy's anti-democratic ideas in more general political trends among the middle class of the late nineteenth-century, particularly i... Read more

In the following essay, James analyzes the polarity of individualism versus conformity. He compares Looking Backward to other utopian novels, gives an overview of the philosophies of progress and indi... Read more

In the following essay, Matarese proposes that Looking Backward was popular in part because it was consistent with the ideals inherent in America's unique national identity. I have always be... Read more

In the following essay, Roemer alleges that Bellamy's use of the conventions of domestic fiction contributed to the popularity of Looking Backward among nineteenth-century readers. 1988 was ... Read more

In the following essay, Hartman traces the evolutionary views of Charles S. Peirce and Edward Bellamy through their various publications and declares that both shared the idea that love is the great a... Read more

In the following essay, originally published in The Nationalist in May 1890, Bellamy describes how Looking Backward evolved from his original writings of an ideal fantasy place with a social system ma... Read more

In the following review of the 1931 edition of Looking Backward, Forbes disagrees with the ideas expressed in Heywood Broun's introduction to the edition, and states that the importance of Look... Read more

In the following essay, Filler examines the social and religious unrest in the late 1800s and maintains that Looking Backward may have been a catalyst of political reform by which a unification of the... Read more

In the following essay, McHugh demonstrates the connection between Looking Backward and the Populist party and avers that Edward Bellamy's novel contained the ideal world the agrarians sought w... Read more

In the following essay, Jehmlich investigates the problem of labor as it is addressed in Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, and examines the novel's influence on subsequent utopian treat... Read more

Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy uses Julian West, the books main character, to predict what the future will be like in the year 2000. Written in 1887, the book tells the story of the thirty-year o... Read more