During the economic and social upheaval of the 1870’s and 1880’s the notion of a better social order took hold in politics and in the culture as well, finding expression in the utopian novels of the day.  By far the most popular was Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward: 2000 – 1887, which was first published by a small house 1888 and gained enormous popularity after Houghton, Mifflin & Co. purchased the company and rereleased the book .  The central figure is Julian West, a young Bostonian who enters a deep sleep in 1887 and awakens in the year 2000 to a radically changed world. He finds a guide, Dr. Leete, who explains the rationale behind such realities as collective property, equal income distribution, fewer hours for harder jobs, retirement at age 45 and free food to a confused and bemused time traveler.  Little attention is given to new technology, but certain innovations have occurred that we readily recognize: consumer cooperatives, credit cards, and a “cable telephone”. Civil litigation has all but disappeared and crime is treated as a primarily medical issue. Leery of the term socialism, the concepts nonetheless owe a good deal to classical Marxism.  The popularity of the book spawned a movement called “nationalism” and no less than 162 “Bellamy Clubs” organized to discuss and spread the ideas.  The book was the third largest best-seller of its time, surpassed only by Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.