LOOKING BACKWARD (A Utopia) & LOOKING FURTHER BACKWARD (A Dystopia)

Looking Backward – Julian West, a young American, towards the end of the 19th century falls into a deep, hypnosis-induced sleep and wakes up 113 years later. He finds himself in the same location (Boston, Massachusetts), but in a totally changed world: It is the year 2000, and while he was sleeping, the United States has been transformed into a socialist utopia. The young man readily finds a guide, Doctor Leete, who shows him around and explains all the advances of this new age, including drastically reduced working hours for people performing menial jobs and almost instantaneous, Internet-like delivery of goods. The two-start working on improving the future with the experiences from the past and the presence. Looking Further Backward – Set in future of 2023 the book narrates the story of how China invades USA in 2020 after China has adopted rampant capitalism as opposed to rest of the world who are in throes of Nationalism, a socialism like set up. Written in a form of a diary, the novel directly hits out at Edward Bellamy's 1888 Utopian novel Looking Backward. The political drama that unfolds in this novel will make you deeply wonder how the author could foresee so much!