An 1888 novel by Edward Bellamy, featuring a Rip Van Winkle-esque protagonist who falls asleep in the "present day" -- which is to say, 1887 -- and wakes up in the present day -- which is to say, 2000. Immensely popular when published, it has since been relegated to footnotehood (if that) in obscure metahistorical textbooks, but is worth remembering both as an early example of science fiction and as an amusing look at 19th century extrapolation. Some of the predictions hold up remarkably well: "An American credit card is just as good in Europe as American gold used to be." Others less so: the credit is provided free of charge by the socialist government of the U.S.

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