About this title: Six hundred years after a 20th-century holocaust, the Catholic Order of Leibowitz must preserve surviving holy relics as well as their organization--both of which have become synonymous with the survival of humanity. Winner of the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
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Description: Good. Spine is well creased. Covers show some wear at the edges and corners. Good reading copy. Binding is Mass Market Paperback. Pages tanning. Used books may have price stickers. Most orders ship on the next business day. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Date Published: 1969
ISBN-13:9780397005741ISBN:0397005741
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. Highlighting/underlining. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 320 p. Lippincott Paperback, LP 20. read more
Description: Very Good. 0553379267 Paperback, Condition: Very Good; this book is in very good condition with light curve to the spine / light reading creases to the covers. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Bantam
Date Published: 1976
ISBN-13:9780553130065ISBN:0553130064
Description: Good. Pages clean & tight, wear to cover, taning to pgs, name on inside coverFirst Class shipping if available for faster service. read more
"Hauntingly beautiful. I loved the cyclical nature of the world. Death, rebirth and ultimately destruction occurring over a plodding time frame, where each life is a drop in the bucket of generations.
I enjoyed the book because it dealt with a future of nuclear annihilation. Most stories dealing with fallout seem to focus on the aftermath, with people who still remembered a different life, life before the holocaust. In A Canticle for Leibowitz the flame deluge is a distant memory remembered only in an oral tradition. Culture and technology evolve slowly and steadily with each subsequent generation building on the shoulders of the giants that came before."
"This wonderful 1959 classic about the aftermath of a nuclear war is crammed with "history as the future" commentary. As happened at the end of the Roman Empire, monks gather and store the remnants of civilization during the new Dark Age. The Order of Saint Leibowitz the Engineer in the Utah desert is the guardian of the saintly founder's blessed blueprint, sacred shopping list and the holy shrine of Fallout Shelter. The book is divided into three parts. Each of which is 600 years later providing us with a glimpse of mankind's "progress.""
"Three novellas make up this sci fi classic, that is as much about religion as science. In fact, it's probably the most sympathetic to organized religion of any sci fi book I've ever read, addressing questions of the course of science when it's not tied to any moral or ethical structures. That makes it sound boring, and it's actually a pretty lively read.
Walter Miller was in the air force during World War II. He was in the squad that bombed Monte Casino in Italy, the destruction of which was the inspiration for this book. Another interestingly imagined world built on war experiences."
"I'm not a Christian, but I live in a Christian society, and it's all around me. Reviewing on Goodreads brings home how many authors can be classified as some kind of Christian apologist. I have very different reactions to them. At one end, I can't stand most of C.S. Lewis - I feel he's there with his foot in the door trying to sell me something, and I'm just hoping that I can get him to take his foot away without being openly rude. At the opposite end, I think Dante is a genius, and that The Divine Comedy is one of the greatest books ever written.
A Canticle for Leibowitz is towards the positive end of this spectrum. It's a post World War III novel, where most of the US is a radioactive wasteland, and civilization has more or less collapsed. The only people who still keep any of the lost heritage of the past are a few scattered monasteries. The book tracks the history of one of these monasteries over the course of several hundred years. It's low-key, moving, and often surprisingly funny. Everything is informed by the simple, unquestioning faith shown by the monks. They don't know why they're doing what they are doing, other than that it must be God's will.
The author shows you the ridiculous aspects of the story - I particularly liked the illuminated parchments of circuit diagrams decorated with vines and cherubim. And yet he is totally on the monks' side, and after a while the reader is as well. They're doing something important, even though they don't know what it is, and it makes their lives deep and meaningful. Even when they die horrible deaths (several of them do), they do it with dignity, knowing that it's the price that needs to be paid.
If Christianity were always like this, I guess I'd be a Christian too. It's a lovely book, that will leave you feeling better about people."
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