Storyline: 4/5 
 Characters: 4/5 
 Writing Style: 4/5 
 World: 4/5 
 I hold most science fiction of the 1950s and before in low regard. This one, though, comes of mixed ancestry. Composed, in part, from three magazine stories from the fifties, it is not until 1960 that Miller publishes A Canticle for Leibowitz as a novel. Albeit born of the 1950s, it shares more with the introspective-toned sci fi classics of the 1960s. And I loved it. 
 This was a book that was supposed to do more than entertain. It was a confession, despairing at being unable to arrive at definite, moral conclusions in a time when definite decisions couldn't wait for theoretical debates to conclude. More an elegy than a canticle, Miller walks us through his misgivings of Catholicism with a(view spoiler)[ multi-century (hide spoiler)] tale in which we learn about these doubts through irony, allusion, and keen contrasts. He confronts questions of epistemology through a tightly controlled (view spoiler)[post-apocalyptic (hide spoiler)] future, providing strong rationale and detail to make it ever so believable. Above all, Miller is political. His politics, though, condemns all and unwaveringly concludes without solutions. 
 This is a novel to be emulated. It is a misfortune that so few science fiction writers devoted themselves to such a careful world- and character-building alongside open-hearted, demonstrative contemplation. I hope to one day start reading more systematically of the post-apocalyptic genre. This was only partially (and superficially in some ways) a science fiction novel after all. Perhaps the dystopian and post-apocalyptic genres took his work more to heart. 
 This reminded me a lot of (view spoiler)[ Philip K.Dick's Man in the High Castle (hide spoiler)].