# Looking Backward — Chapters explained

> Chapter companions for Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy.

- [Author's Preface](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/author-s-preface.md): The preface, dated December 26, 2000, introduces the book as a historical narrative designed to help readers understand the social contrasts between the 19th and 20th centuries. The author explains that the present socia
- [Looking Backward](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/looking-backward.md): The opening chapter introduces Julian West, a wealthy young Bostonian living in the late 19th century. He describes his comfortable life, his engagement to Edith Bartlett, and the social unrest of the era, including labo
- [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/i.md): Julian West describes the labor unrest and social tensions of the late 19th century, using the metaphor of a coach to illustrate the vast inequality between the wealthy few who ride and the masses who toil. He reflects o
- [Chapter II: The Mesmeric Trance](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/ii.md): Julian West describes his insomnia and his reliance on Dr. Pillsbury, a mesmerist, to induce sleep in his subterranean chamber. After a Decoration Day dinner with the Bartletts, where labor unrest is discussed, he return
- [Chapter III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/iii.md): Julian West awakens in a strange house and is greeted by Dr. Leete, who explains that he has been in a trance for over a century. Julian initially refuses to believe the claim that it is the year 2000, but after being ta

> 26 more chapter companions — [open a free preview](https://www.betterreads.dev/reader?bookId=looking_backward_se_711kb&preview=1) to unlock the rest.

- [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/iv.md)
- [Chapter V: The Great Trust and the Evolution of Industry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/v.md)
- [Chapter VI: The Industrial Army and the New Social Order](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/vi.md)
- [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/vii.md)
- [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/viii.md)
- [Chapter IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/ix.md)
- [Shopping in the Twentieth Century](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/x.md)
- [Chapter XI: Inheritance, Domestic Service, and the Music of the Future](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xi.md)
- [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xii.md)
- [Chapter XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xiii.md)
- [Chapter XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xiv.md)
- [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xv.md)
- [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xvi.md)
- [Chapter XVII: The Logic of Production and Distribution](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xvii.md)
- [XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xviii.md)
- [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xix.md)
- [Chapter XX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xx.md)
- [Education and Physical Culture in the Twentieth Century](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xxi.md)
- [XXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xxii.md)
- [Chapter XXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xxiii.md)
- [XXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xxiv.md)
- [XXV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xxv.md)
- [Chapter XXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xxvi.md)
- [Chapter XXVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xxvii.md)
- [Chapter XXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xxviii.md)
- [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/endnotes.md)

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters