Book 1 of Julian West
Language: English
Anatomy of Wonder 1 Core Collection Fiction Future Future History General Library - Science Fiction and Fantasy Librivox Novel Project Gutenberg Science Fiction Utopia _isfdb
Publisher: Ticknor and Company
Published: Jan 2, 1888
Description:
Product Description
Utopian Classic! A socialist utopian fantasy about America in the year 2000. Whether you're a socialist or libertarian, this is an amazing example of this genre. A young man from the late 19th century awakens in the year 2000 to find crime, war, and want nonexistent. First published in 1888, Bellamy's utopian novel a world of near-perfect cooperation and prosperity. The explanations of the changes in society are sometimes fascinating, and other times horrifying. Bellamy's perspective of corporations, banks and religion in the new utopian world are different than normally found in utopian fiction and intriguing none the less. Some will find the living, social and sexist perspectives politically incorrect; however, the author definitely lays them out very thoroughly. A thought provoking and entertaining book, it is hard to believe it was written over 100 years ago. A must-read for those interested in utopian and dystopian philosophy, sociology, politics, & religion.
About the Author
Edward Bellamy (1850 - 1898) was an American author and socialist, most famous for his utopian novel, Looking Backward, set in the year 2000. According to Erich Fromm, Bellamy's novel Looking Backward is "one of the most remarkable books ever published in America." [2] It was the third largest bestseller of its time, after Uncle Tom's Cabin and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.[2] In the book, Julian West, an upper class man from 1887, awakes in 2000 from a hypnotic trance to find himself in a socialist utopia. The book 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." [3] "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.[4] His novel also inspired several utopian communities. Although Looking Backward is unique, Bellamy owes many aspects of his philosophy to a previous reformer and author, Laurence Gronlund, who published his treatise "The Cooperative Commonwealth: An Exposition of Modern Socialism" in 1884.