Looking Backward

By: Edward Bellamy

Narrated by: Edward Lewis

The hero is anyone who has ever longed for escape to a better life. The time is tomorrow. The place is a Utopian America. This is the backdrop for Edward Bellamy's prophetic novel about a young Boston gentleman who is mysteriously transported from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century, from a world of war and want to a world of peace and plenty. Translated into more than twenty languages, and the most widely read novel of its time, Looking Backward is more than a brilliant visionary's view of the future. It is a blueprint of the "perfect society," a guidebook that stimulated some of the prominent thinkers of our age. John Dewey, Charles Beard, and Edward Weeks, in separate surveys conducted in 1935, listed Edward Bellamy's novel as the most influential work written by an American in the preceding fifty years.(P)2000 Blackstone Audiobooks

socialist utopia

132 years later and Looking Backwards is still progressive in all its ideas for the Future. Equality and Freedom reign supreme over the otherwise corruptible people of the world. Thus the narrative reminds us that there was no "great time" in American history. The poor have always been and if Bellamy's dream isn't realized, they current gap between rich and poor will only get worse.

Incredibly forward thinking

Again and again while listening to this book I found ideas that I had both argued for and thought were relatively new only to be astounded by Bellamy's foresight. You would never guess that this book was written in the 1800s. Again I was astounded by the modern thinking and views.

Now I see How This Book Sparked a Revolution

Brilliant
Amazing
Smart
Thought Provoking
A necessary for survival in today's social and economic terrain.

Astonishing. Impeccable. Necessary.

This is truly an astonishing book, especially considering the time period in which it was written. I must admit, o'clock if not astounding. However, in terms of significance the book is that the up most caliber. The sentiments and implications of this book are among the highest degree.It has become one of my favorite books, and encourage everyone to read it at least once. It is more than just a book, it is a guideline for the future of our humanity.

Well thought out, a little too long

The middle third of the book is well thought out, predicting the future, but a little long winded. I skipped quite a bit and didn’t miss anything pertinent.

So much is different. so much is the same.

Very cute in some ways, disturbing in others. After reading this, try Supply Shock, by Brian Czech, to get up to date.

Interesting Classic Utopian Novel

The author uses an interesting premise to predict the future of America and the world from his 19th Century perspective. It is a true utopian novel full of hopes and dreams of a world where there is no bad, only good.

It is perfectly obvious why Bellamy clubs (also known as Nationalist Clubs) sprung up around the country in his time. There is nothing to dislike about the hopeful vision he projects in the novel.

Like so many utopian thinkers, going back to Sir Thomas More, the internal conflict within mankind over power vs freedom is smoothed over without detailed explanation. It is more dream than possible reality.

Still ... this is an enjoyable read.

Utopian dreams

Just want to say, the narration is decent, the story is well told, but it's evil.

Some of the social aspects are not really questioned deeply enough, as in "how they are sustainable", like how many new citizens are required to be mustered in each year to handle all the surviving mustered out. At some point there are going to be large populations of citizens being paid not to work, basically social security, and everyone know how well funded that is. And how would they create new jobs to handle all these new citizens, at some point we would have people building "ghost cities", just to have a job, rubber rooms, or factories producing nothing.

And its also funny how the writer created a way that they could still have "writers" in the future, since that's their job. No one has a self interest, but if you squander your time after your job and work hard, for "yourself", you can write a book, have the government print it for a small fee, and if your really lucky, enough people will buy your book, to fund your work "quota", so you can stop working and just write books.

Better than I ever imagined!

I purchased this book because it was recommended by two completely unrelated other books I had read recently. a book called socialist reconstruction which I found to be middling but with some good ideas, and Ursula K Lequinn's the Wind's 12 Quarters. these books have been written so far apart and citing the same source as an inspiration made me purchase the book.

this book has one of the clearest visions of society as it should be that I have ever heard. and shockingly the authors observations of his own time more than a century before my life, apply nearly wholesale to the system in which I live today.

What would a world without money be like?

What made the experience of listening to Looking Backward the most enjoyable?

We've all heard that (the love of) money is the root of all evil, but we can't imagine a world without it. This is exactly what the author does. He describes a world of the future where people act to benefit everyone, rather than having everyone do whatever it takes to get ahead. This is a story I'll listen to many times, because it describes the kind of future that I would like to be part of.