Looking Backward, 2000-1887 (The Modern Library of the World's Best Books, ML 22)

x, 276 pp. 8vo. The utopian novel that spurred a trend in late 19th century speculative fiction, gave rise to numerous political activism groups, and inspired the foundation of utopian communities. Introduction by Heywood Broun. "Looking Backward: 2000-1887 is a utopian novel by Edward Bellamy, a lawyer and writer from western Massachusetts, and was first published in 1888. According to Erich Fromm, Looking Backward is "one of the most remarkable books ever published in America." It was the third largest bestseller of its time, after Uncle Tom's Cabin and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. It influenced a large number of intellectuals, and appears by title in many of the major Marxist writings of the day. "It is one of the few books ever published that created almost immediately on its appearance a political mass movement." Several "Bellamy Clubs" sprang up all over the United States for discussing and propagating the book's ideas. This political movement came to be known as Nationalism - not to be confused with the political concept of nationalism. The novel also inspired several utopian communities."