Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Science fiction / postapocalyptic fiction / literary fiction
In
the centuries after nuclear apocalypse, human society rebuilds itself
almost from scratch. Told in three sections, each set several centuries
after the previous story, A Canticle for Leibowitz shows us the
lives of three men in the Order of Saint Leibowitz, an order of monks
dedicated to preserving what books and papers remain of the civilization
that existed before global thermonuclear war destroyed much of human
society and precipitated a violent backlash against the educated,
technologically advanced culture that had made nuclear weapons possible.
As Miller brings the reader into the hearts, minds, hopes, and dreams
of relatively ordinary people, and as the world moves from a dark age
through a new renaissance into another technological era, the
unavoidable question looms: will humanity avoid its past mistakes?
Warning [and spoiler warning]: This is not a happy ending.
Readalikes:
- Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban - similar post-nuclear-apocalyptic Dark Ages setting, questions of what society would look like after a nuclear holocaust, themes of history repeating itself
- Miller wrote a sequel, Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman.
- 1984 - similar for sheer bleakness
