Looking Backward: 2000–1887 – Edward Bellamy

"The brotherhood of man is not a mere fine phrase, but a fact of nature."

Julian West falls into a hypnotic sleep in 1887 and wakes up in the year 2000. He finds the United States transformed into a socialist utopia where the state controls all production, citizens serve in an industrial army, and everyone retires at 45 with full benefits. He learns how this peaceful revolution occurred.

Bellamy's novel was a massive bestseller that sparked a political movement. It presents a vision of a technologically advanced, centrally planned society that eliminates poverty and inequality, reflecting the hopes of the late 19th-century labor movement.