A Canticle for Leibowitz

Plot

"Here is science fiction of the highest literary excellence and thematic intelligence. A monastery founded by the scientist Liebowitz is discovered decades after an atomic war. In the first part of the book a young novice in the monastery is the protagonist; in the second part we see scholars in a new period of enlightment; and in the final section we observe man's proclivity for repeating mistakes and the apparent inevitability of history's repeating itself." Shapiro. Fic for Youth, 3d edition.