"Oh, there are several versions. They differ in minor details. No one is certain which nation launched the first attack-not that it matters any more. The text Brother Reader was just reading was written a few decades after the death of Saint Leibowitz-probably one of the first accounts-after it became safe to write again. The author was a young monk who had not lived through the destruction himself; he got it second hand from Saint Leibowitz’ followers, the original memorizers and bookleggers, and he had a liking for scriptural mimicry. I doubt if a single completely accurate account of the Flame Deluge exists anywhere. Once it started, it was apparently too immense for any one person to see the whole picture."