 Scholars and critics have noted the theme of cyclic history or recurrence in Miller 's works , epitomized in A Canticle for Leibowitz . David Seed , in discussing the treatment of nuclear holocaust in science fiction in his book American Science Fiction and the Cold War : Literature and Film ( 1992 ) , states , " it was left to Walter M. Miller 's A Canticle for Leibowitz to show recurrence taking place in a narrative spanning centuries . " David N. Samuelson , whose 1969 doctoral dissertation on Canticle is considered the " best overall discussion of the book " , calls the " cyclical theme of technological progress and regress ... the foundation @-@ stone on which A Canticle for Leibowitz is built . " 
