Project Gutenberg 2006-07-17 Public domain in the USA. 158 Piper, H. Beam 1904 1964 Piper, Henry Beam Piper, Horace Beam McGuire, John J. (John Joseph) 1917 1981 McGuire, John Joseph Freas, Kelly 1922 2005 Freas, Frank Kelly The Return Produced from Astounding Science Fiction, January, 1954. Wikipedia page about this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Return_(Piper_and_McGuire_short_story) Produced by Greg Weeks, Sankar Viswanathan, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "The Return" by H. Beam Piper and John J. McGuire is a science fiction novel written in the early to mid-1950s. The book explores the remnants of civilization in a post-apocalyptic world where small communities are struggling to survive following a catastrophic nuclear war. The central theme revolves around the journey of two men from a well-equipped fort who seek to reconnect with lost knowledge and civilization, encountering a strange society that has developed its own unique beliefs and customs. In the story, scientists Altamont and Loudons discover a group of survivors in a stockaded village who are descendants of a military platoon from centuries ago. They have established a community with remnants of advanced knowledge but have also formed a religious belief system centered around a slain and risen god. As Altamont and Loudons introduce technology and aim to revive connections between communities, they must navigate the challenges posed by the local “Scowrers” while also dealing with the implications of their mission on the villagers' societal structure. The novel combines elements of adventure and philosophical exploration, raising questions about civilization, culture, and the essence of humanity in a world reshaped by disaster. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 80.8 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction PS Text Science Fiction Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Adventure 92853 2025-08-08T06:32:59.207296 text/html 89463 2006-07-17T16:29:42 text/html 395191 2025-08-08T06:33:03.101340 application/epub+zip 393960 2025-08-08T06:33:00.766316 application/epub+zip 98979 2025-08-08T06:32:59.762310 application/epub+zip 470979 2025-08-08T06:33:04.865297 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 462387 2025-08-08T06:33:02.519330 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 140585 2022-09-09T06:12:27.773088 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 84956 2025-08-08T06:32:58.906314 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 84828 2006-07-17T16:29:42 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 84819 2006-07-17T16:29:42 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 22045 2025-08-08T06:33:05.038277 application/rdf+xml 10505 2025-08-08T06:33:00.251316 image/jpeg 2808 2025-08-08T06:33:00.005316 image/jpeg 32803 2006-07-17T16:29:44 application/octet-stream application/zip 317272 2006-07-17T16:29:44 application/octet-stream application/zip 32788 2006-07-17T16:29:44 application/octet-stream application/zip 382403 2025-08-08T06:32:59.229339 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia en.wikipedia en.wikipedia