A Canticle for Leibowitz - SFBA Book Club

313 pages

Published Jan. 1, 1976 by Bantam Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-553-02973-4

(1 review)

Highly unusual After the Holocaust novel. In the far future, 20th century texts are preserved in a monastery, as "sacred books". The monks preserve for centuries what little science there is, and have saved the science texts and blueprints from destruction many times, also making beautifully illuminated copies. As the story opens to a world run on a basically fuedal lines, science is again becoming fashionable, as a hobby of rich men, at perhaps 18th or early 19th century level of comprehesion. A local lord, interested in science, comes to the monastery. What happens after that is an exquisitely told tale, stunning and extremely moving, totally different from any other After the Holocaust story

20 editions

NowWeAreAllTom reviewed L'héritage de saint Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.

Review of "L'héritage de saint Leibowitz" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Half a century later this book's particular brand of nuclear anxiety seems a little cliche and silly--especially with regard to human deformity. Since it takes place mostly in an abbey it's not terribly surprising how few women there are in it, but I'm not crazy about the treatment of the two (three?) notable female characters in the book's third part. But despite its fault I thought the book was well worth reading, for the thoughtful, dry, darkly humorous tone throughout.