We write from the St. Bernard monastery in the Alps, on the territory of what once was the rich country of Switzerland. Since an escalating series of nuclear exchanges turned much of the planet's surface to radioactive ruin and triggered a nuclear winter, the monastery has provided shelter to a few survivors and their descendants. Our monastery has cultivated a small community of monks, including the two of us, who dedicate themselves to studying science, history, and religion. A recent decrease in radioactive contamination allowed us to visit the old monastic library; the library includes items that survivors who