Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson

Thorndike Press, 1998 - Nature - 379 pages

Here is a trove of Carson writing never before published or collected, uncovered by Linda Lear, author of the recent and acclaimed "Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature." Included are examples of her early and often remarkable nature writing for newspapers and for the Fish and Wildlife Service; journal observations on shore life; letters, including the "Lost Woods" correspondence concerning her efforts to save land in her beloved Maine, and another, written to her physician near the end of her life, that reveals Carson's fight to be told the truth about her cancer even as she was working to expose the hazards of pesticides. "Lost Woods" also creates a vivid record of Carson's activism. In talks to national groups, she gives astute early criticism of the ties between universities and chemical manufacturers, and skewers her critics with still-timely precision.

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LibraryThing Review

User Review  - bezoar44 - LibraryThing

A well-chosen collection of writings of Rachel Carson, spanning her career and offering insight into her development as an ecologist, writer, and advocate. The selections include articles, personal ...

LOST WOODS: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson

User Review  - Kirkus

Biographer Lear (Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature, 1997) knits together here a number of Rachel Carson's writings—often much more personal, quirky, and searching than her celebrated books—that add ...

Contents

• Introduction: 11
• Part One: 21
• Refuge: 77

About the author

Rachel Carson was born on May 27, 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, she 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. Her first book, Under the Sea Wind, was published in 1941. Her next book, The Sea Around Us, won the National Book Award. With her increased success as a writer, she resigned from her position with the Fish and Wildlife Service in 1952 to devote all her time to writing. Her other works included The Edge of the Sea and Silent Spring. She received many honors including 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 on April 14, 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: Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson; Americana Series; Thorndike Americana; Thorndike Press Large Print Americana Series
• Author: Rachel Carson
• Editor: Linda J. Lear
• Contributor: Linda J. Lear
• Edition: reprint, large print
• Publisher: Thorndike Press, 1998
• ISBN: 0786216972, 9780786216970
• Length: 379 pages
• Subjects: Nature / Animals / Wildlife