Share <Embed>

Buy New

$5.75

List Price: $7.99
Save: $2.24 (28%)

FREE Shipping on orders over $25—or get FREE Two-Day Shipping with Amazon Prime

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Ship to:

Select a shipping address:

Buy Used

$4.18

+ $1.00 shipping

Used: Good | Details

Sold by New Chapter Recycling

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 3 images

A Canticle for Leibowitz Mass Market Paperback – June 1, 1984

by Walter M. Miller Jr. (Author)

610 customer reviews

See all 77 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Library Binding

"Please retry"

$16.50

$11.94

Paperback

"Please retry"

$9.78

$8.99

$0.44

Audible, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Mass Market Paperback

"Please retry"

$5.75

$5.48

$2.12

Audio CD, Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$25.77

$20.76

$24.95

Pocket Book

"Please retry"

—

$8.99

Save an extra $0.53 when you choose FREE No-Rush Shipping at checkout.

In the depths of the Utah desert, long after the Flame Deluge has scoured the earth clean, a monk of the Order of Saint Leibowitz has made a miraculous discovery: holy relics from the life of the great saint himself, including the blessed blueprint, the sacred shopping list, and the hallowed shrine of the Fallout Shelter.

In a terrifying age of darkness and decay, these artifacts could be the keys to mankind's salvation. But as the mystery at the core of this groundbreaking novel unfolds, it is the search itself—for meaning, for truth, for love—that offers hope for humanity's rebirth from the ashes.

A Canticle for Leibowitz

$5.75
FREE Shipping on orders over $25—or get FREE Two-Day Shipping with Amazon Prime In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Frequently bought together

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Colson Whitehead

450

Paperback
$8.48
Kamila Shamsie

84

Paperback
$12.43
Lucian

2

Paperback
$11.55
George R. Stewart

879

Paperback
$11.70
Karen Thompson Walker

1,212

Paperback
$9.45
Ursula K. Le Guin

488

Mass Market Paperback
$8.75

Special offers and product promotions

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Walter M. Miller's acclaimed SF classic A Canticle for Leibowitz opens with the accidental excavation of a holy artifact: a creased, brittle memo scrawled by the hand of the blessed Saint Leibowitz, that reads: "Pound pastrami, can kraut, six bagels--bring home for Emma." To the Brothers of Saint Leibowitz, this sacred shopping list penned by an obscure, 20th-century engineer is a symbol of hope from the distant past, from before the Simplification, the fiery atomic holocaust that plunged the earth into darkness and ignorance. As 1984 cautioned against Stalinism, so 1959's A Canticle for Leibowitz warns of the threat and implications of nuclear annihilation. Following a cloister of monks in their Utah abbey over some six or seven hundred years, the funny but bleak Canticle tackles the sociological and religious implications of the cyclical rise and fall of civilization, questioning whether humanity can hope for more than repeating its own history. Divided into three sections--Fiat Homo (Let There Be Man), Fiat Lux (Let There Be Light), and Fiat Voluntas Tua (Thy Will Be Done)--Canticle is steeped in Catholicism and Latin, exploring the fascinating, seemingly capricious process of how and why a person is canonized. --Paul Hughes --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Extraordinary ... chillingly effective.”— Time

“Angry, eloquent ... a terrific story.”— The New York Times

“An extraordinary novel ... Prodigiously imaginative, richly comic, terrifyingly grim, profound both intellectually and morally, and, above all ... simply such a memorable story as to stay with the reader for years.”— Chicago Tribune

“An exciting and imaginative story ... Unconditionally recommended.”— Library Journal

From the Trade Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product details

Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Bantam Spectra; . edition (June 1, 1984)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0553273817
ISBN-13: 978-0553273816
Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.9 x 6.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 610 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,910 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #15 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy
- #31 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Literature & Fiction > Science Fiction
- #180 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Short Stories & Anthologies > Short Stories

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?
If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Customer reviews

610

4.2 out of 5 stars

5 star		65%
4 star		17%
3 star		8%
2 star		6%
1 star		4%

Write a customer review

See all verified purchase reviews

Rated by customers interested in

What's this?

Literary Fiction

3.7 out of 5 stars

Religion & Spirituality Books

3.8 out of 5 stars

Short Stories & Anthologies

3.1 out of 5 stars

Is this feature helpful?

Thank you for your feedback.

Top customer reviews

Very captivating book!

ByP. Kimon April 23, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I remember being captivated by this book.

The story has three parts. With all of them being quite dark. Basically, humanity becomes barbaric by purging knowledge and learning. Then they recover and become advanced bringing space age. But again due to conflict, everything ends with a nuclear war.

I am just amazed how Miller wrote such a novel during the 1940-1950s.

It is so well written and so captivating!

Hope someone makes a movie~

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

600 years after nuclear war - we have monks?

ByGrandMa Susanon September 24, 2015

Format: Mass Market PaperbackVerified Purchase

Mentioned as an early influence by one of my favorite authors (Maria Doria Russell).
The book is divided into 3 sections, each 600 years apart. It begins with monks, of all things, in a post-nuclear dark age, followed by a slow rebirth of technology in the next section, and presenting the threat of another nuclear war in the final section. The mission of the monks throughout is to collect and protect the remnants of science, history and religion from that lost age.

The first section is charming, the central character comical in his religious fervor and naivete. My favorite idea from this section is his discovery of a fallout shelter from before. The word 'fallout' has terrible connotations but no practical idea of what it actually is, so it is pictured as a demon. When he discovers a 'fallout shelter', he believes it to be a safe place for the fallout (demons) to reside, so carefully does not disturb it (them). Oh, and some of the gibberish Latin is pretty funny, too.

In the next 2 sections, what becomes most remarkable is the interpretation put on the thoughts and actions of the characters we've now come to know. They are unrecognizable as the people we've seen, which allows for a greater clarity when considering the lengths the monks have gone to to protect the artifacts like the 'Sacred Shopping List' that survived from before the dark age. Assigning importance and motive to remnants and actions recorded from history allows for colossal miscommunication and misdirection.

This is an old book, first published in 1959, but new to me. The nuclear threat was as heavy in those days as it is again in ours. This is a terrific work of imagination that was, I believe, the result of living under the threat of nuclear attack and trying to see though the fear and the fog to what might be beyond. The great question it asks is are we doomed to complete the cycle - repeatedly?

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

To the Fallout Shelter - and Beyond

ByLouis Burklowon August 26, 2017

Format: Mass Market PaperbackVerified Purchase

A unique science fiction story with an entertaining (if bleak) concept. A monk living sometime after an apocalypse devastated Earth finds artifacts from his patron saint in a fallout shelter in Utah. Miller's book offers more well-developed characters than I often find in sci-fi and the book is compelling. Above all, Miller's refusal to tack a happy ending on, sticking with his view of human fallibility, makes this story powerful.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

Post-apocalyptic hope?

Bycarolynfromozon April 22, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Written in 1959 during the cold war and the fear of nuclear war, this book has stood the test of time remarkably well.

Set over three time periods, it describes a future society a few hundred years after world-wide nuclear annihilation or the 'Flame Deluge" as it's remembered, when mankind is starting to recover. The backlash to nuclear war has been the 'Simplification' where all books are burnt and educated people killed to prevent to prevent any re-invention of the weapons that destroyed the world. A Jewish electronic engineer, Isaac Leibowitz who survived established a monastery in the Utah desert and charged the monks with collecting as much written material as they can and keeping it safe in a fortified monastery. In the second time period, some six centuries later man is emerging from the dark ages, science is being re-invented and the 'memorabilia' kept by the monks is rediscovered and inspected for the knowledge it contains. In the final time period another 600 years later, man has travelled to the stars and formed new colonies but has reinvented weapons and Earth is once again on the brink of destruction.

There is much humour in the story - in the many characters with all their human imperfections as well as in the worship of ancient writings (like Leibowitz's shopping list and circuit diagram), but there are also many serious issues for consideration just as pertinent to today as to the middle of last century. There is the ever topical battle between science and religion as well as the question of whether euthanasia should be allowed for people doomed to die. The biggest question of course, is whether as a civilization are we doomed to keep fighting and killing each other over religion, race or land with ever more powerful weapons or will be at some stage grow up and evolve beyond that?

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Customer images

See all customer images

Most recent customer reviews

Sucks.

5 stars for the story. 2 stars for the format. Don't get Library Binding. Sucks.

Published 15 days ago by David Wright

Two Stars

Back cover and last page torn. Scratches on front cover.

Published 17 days ago by Parent

Yes and No

This was another book that took me a while to finish. I picked it up, read some, put it down and did something else.Read more

Published 19 days ago by Heather E. Ames

I loved the story and narrator equally

A very well written story that reminds me more of an epic whose purpose was originally set to help the writer come to terms with his own past while posing life questions to the...Read more

Published 22 days ago by Mikel Leuty

Slow-paced but intriguing

A slow-paced but intriguing vision of the Catholic church in the centuries after the fall of western civilization and the loss of most earthly knowledge, where monks painstakingly...Read more

Published 29 days ago by Joe Kessler

A Bleak Exploration Of Humanity

Out in the desert, a young would-be monk labors. He is on a mission for his monastery, a week of fasting and privation that all initiates must go through.Read more

Published 1 month ago by Sandra Iler Kirkland

Three Stars

not to my taste

Published 1 month ago by Denis N. Hartnett

Five Stars

Among the top favorite books I have ever read!

Published 1 month ago by Terence M.

Wow

Boring book , it's for summer reading . Way too long .
The book came fast and was in perfect shape. Thank You.

Published 1 month ago by Jazzyp

Four Stars

A little more "Sci-Fi" than my usual diet, but interesting. Made me think of Planet of the Apes.

Published 1 month ago by Marine Corp I

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: A Canticle for Leibowitz

Set up a giveaway

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Watchmen Paperback

Alan Moore

1,695

$17.99
Lucifer's Hammer Mass Market Paperback

Larry Niven

917

$7.38

Pages with related products. See and discover other items: dystopian society, new mutants, sf books, speculative fiction, the new mutants

Buy New $5.75

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

or

or

Buy Used $4.18

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

A Canticle for Leibowitz Mass Market Paperback – June 1, 1984

Frequently bought together

Customers who bought this item also bought

Special offers and product promotions

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Review

Product details

Customer reviews

Top customer reviews

Customer images

Most recent customer reviews

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Buy New

$5.75

Buy Used

$4.18