''Looking Backward, 2000-1887'' is a science-fiction novel written by Edward Bellamy in 1887 that tells the story of his utopian, socialist vision of America set in the year 2000.
By the time "Looking Backward, 2000-1887" was published, America had come through Civil War, economic depression, and violent uprisings over the formation of unions. Businesses were becoming more powerful by monopolising industries and controlling wealth. High immigration numbers meant there was an abundance of workers who were largely happy to have any job and wage. Many Americans were struggling and had little opportunity to change their situations.
In the novel, Bellamy's main character, Julian West, was transported to the year 2000 when these problems were no longer going to be a burden. His utopia is one in which production is nationally owned and all goods are distributed equally to the citizens. In short, Bellamy had created a world in which all of society's ills could be solved through socialism. As he writes from the perspective of Dr. Leete, West's future guide, ''The producers of the nineteenth century were not, like ours, working together for the maintenance of the community, but each solely for his own maintenance at the expense of the community''. . .
