Silent spring

R. Carson

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002 - Nature - 378 pages

First published by Houghton Mifflin in 1962, Silent Spring alerted a large audience to the environmental and human dangers of indiscriminate use of pesticides, spurring revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water. “Silent Spring became a runaway bestseller, with international reverberations . . . [It is] well crafted, fearless and succinct . . . Even if she had not inspired a generation of activists, Carson would prevail as one of the greatest nature writers in American letters” (Peter Matthiessen, for Time's 100 Most Influential People of the Century).

This fortieth anniversary edition celebrates Rachel Carson's watershed book with a new introduction by the author and activist Terry Tempest Williams and a new afterword by the acclaimed Rachel Carson biographer Linda Lear, who tells the story of Carson's courageous defense of her truths in the face of ruthless assault from the chemical industry in the year following the publication of Silent Spring and before her untimely death in 1964.

What people are saying

Review: Silent Spring

User Review  - Connie - Goodreads

The "go to book" for every environmentalist, naturalist, or forester. Ms. Carson was one of the first to point out our disregard and abuse of the US environment. Although somewhat dated...the issues ...

Review: Silent Spring

User Review  - Blia028 - Goodreads

The book describes how DDT enters the food chain and accumulated in the fatty tissues of animals, including human beings, and causes cancer and genetic damage. A single application on a crop, she ...

Contents

• A FABLE FOR TOMORROW: 1
• THE OBLIGATION TO ENDURE: 5
• ELIXIRS OF DEATH: 15
• SURFACE WATERS AND UNDERGROUND SEAS: 39
• REALMS OF THE SOIL: 53
• EARTHS GREEN MANTLE: 63
• NEEDLESS HAVOC: 85
• AND NO BIRDS SING: 103
• RIVERS OF DEATH: 129
• INDISCRIMINATELY FROM THE SKIES: 154
• BEYOND THE DREAMS OF THE BORGIAS: 173
• THE HUMAN PRICE: 187
• THROUGH A NARROW WINDOW: 199
• ONE IN EVERY FOUR: 219
• NATURE FIGHTS BACK: 245
• THE RUMBLINGS OF AN AVALANCHE: 262
• THE OTHER ROAD: 277
• List of Principal Sources: 301
• Afterword: 357
• Index: 365

About the author

Rachel Louise Carson was born in 1907, in Springdale, Pennsylvania. She received a B.A. from the Pennsylvania College for Women in 1929 and an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University in 1932. After undertaking postgraduate work at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, Carson assumed a position as staff biologist at the University of Maryland in 1931. Five years later, she was appointed aquatic biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, which later became the Fish and Wildlife Service, and became editor-in-chief of its publications in 1949. In 1941 Carson published her first book, Under the Sea Wind, for which she received acclaim as an accomplished science writer. Her next book, The Sea Around Us, published in 1951, won the National Book Award. With her increased success as a popular writer, she resigned from her position with the Fish and Wildlife Service in 1952 to devote all her time to writing. In 1956 she published her third book about the ocean, The Edge of the Sea. Soon after, she began work on the book that would become an environmental classic. When Carson became concerned about pesticide pollution and its effects on ecosystems and human health, she spent years reading scientific reports, interviewing scientists, and pulling together thousands of bits of data about the use and impact of pesticides on the soil, in the water, and on plants, animals, and people. In 1962 she published Silent Spring, which immediately caused a stir. The book soared in sales, staying 31 weeks on the bestseller list. In all, Silent Spring sold 500,000 copies in hardcover and millions of copies in paperback. The popularity of her book was in part generated by the outraged response from the chemical industry, which created a substantial debate within scientific, industrial, and governmental circles. The more industry criticized Carson's interpretation of the facts, the more support she seemed to gain from the public, subsequently leading to legislation, such as the ban on the use of DDT in 1972. It would seem that Carson ignited the match that caught the environmental movement on fire. Her impact in the environmental community is significant. Among her many honors are: the John Burroughs Medal from the John Burroughs Memorial Association; the Frances K. Hutchinson Medal of the Garden Clubs of America; the Distinguished Service Award of the U.S. Department of Interior; the Audubon Medal of the National Audubon Society; the gold medal of the New York Zoological Society; and the conservationist of the year award from the National Wildlife Federation. She died of cancer in 1964. In 1969 the U.S. Department of the Interior named the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in Maine in her honor.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Silent spring; A Mariner Book; Edition 001 Series
• Author: R. Carson
• Edition: 40, illustrated, reprint, annotated
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002
• ISBN: 0618249060, 9780618249060
• Length: 378 pages
• Subjects: Nature / Environmental Conservation & Protection; Science / Environmental Science