 A Canticle for Leibowitz is a post @-@ apocalyptic science fiction novel by American writer Walter M. Miller , Jr . , first published in 1960 . Set in a Catholic monastery in the desert of the Southwestern United States after a devastating nuclear war , the story spans thousands of years as civilization rebuilds itself . The monks of the fictional Albertian Order of Leibowitz take up the mission of preserving the surviving remnants of man 's scientific knowledge until the day the outside world is again ready for it . 
