A Canticle for Leibowitz
Part 1 of 63
Walter M. Miller Jr.’s A Canticle for Leibowitz is a post-apocalyptic novel about the preservation of knowledge after civilization has been devastated by nuclear war. Across centuries, members of a Catholic religious order in the American Southwest safeguard fragments of the old world, even as humanity slowly rebuilds and confronts the possibility of repeating its past.
This recording presents the novel as a serialized radio reading, following its long arc from the monks’ painstaking work of collecting and copying relics to the return of scientific learning and political power. Its central setting is the Abbey of Saint Leibowitz, where faith, scholarship, and the practical demands of survival meet.
The story combines speculative fiction with religious reflection, dry humor, and a sober view of human ambition. Its changing eras give the narrative a broad historical sweep, while the monks’ daily lives keep its questions about memory, progress, and responsibility grounded in intimate human experience.
This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.