Looking Backward - First published in 1888, “Looking Backward: 2000-1887” is the highly influential work of utopian science fiction by American journalist Edward Bellamy. In the years following the American Civil War a growth in inequality led to an increase in social and economic turmoil. The rise of ever larger and less competitive firms was causing wages to stagnate and created an appetite amongst the populace for solutions to help mitigate the negative effects of an unrestrained and increasingly plutocratic form of capitalism. This appetite gave rise to a popular new literary genre, the utopian novel, of which “Looking Backward” is arguably one of the most famous examples of. “Looking Backward” was one of the best-selling novels of the 19th century.