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Silent Spring

Name: Silent Spring
Author: Rachel Carson
ISBN: 9780618249060

by Rachel Carson, Edward O. Wilson (Afterword), Edward Osborne Wilson (Afterword), Linda Lear

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Overview

Rarely does a single book alter the course of history, but Rachel Carson's Silent Spring did exactly that. The outcry that followed its publication in 1962 forced the government to ban DDT and spurred revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water. Carson's book was instrumental in launching the environmental movement. It is without question one of the landmark books of the twentieth century.

This is a rigorous presentation of the effects of pesticide use as well as a call to greater awareness of our environment.

Synopsis

Publishers Weekly

This new edition of Carson's classic features a new introduction by Vice President Al Gore. (Sept.)

About the Author, Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson (1907-1964) spent most of her professional life as a marine biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. By the late 1950s, she had written three lyrical, popular books about the sea, including the best-selling The Sea Around Us, and had become the most respected science writer in America. She completed Silent Spring against formidable personal odds, and with it shaped a powerful social movement that has altered the course of history.

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Editorials

From Barnes & Noble

Three reasons to read Silent Spring: 1. This book, first published in 1962, launched the modern environmental movement. It also earned Carson, a modest marine biologist, a slot on Time's 100 Most Influential People of the Century list. 2. It's a great read. Calling Silent Spring "well crafted, fearless and succinct," Peter Matthiessen said of its author: "Even if she had not inspired a generation of activists, Carson would prevail as one of the greatest nature writers in American letters." 3. Carson's lucid, almost lyrical expose of the indiscriminate use of pesticides is still relevant.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This new edition of Carson's classic features a new introduction by Vice President Al Gore. (Sept.)

Lorus Milner

Silent Spring is similar in only one regard to Miss Carson's earlier books (Under the Sea Wind, The Sea Around Us, The Edge of the Sea); in it she deals once more, in an accurate, yet popularly written narrative, with the relation of life to environment. Her book is a cry to the reading public to help curb private and public programs which by use of poisons will end by destroying life on earth.-- Books of the Century, The New York Times review September 1962

S. H

In 1960, a woman noticed the birds had stopped singing and their population had severely decreased in her neighborhood. She summoned a friend, biologist/writer Rachel Carson, to investigate this wildlife mystery. Subsequently, in 1962, Rachel,s discoveries and efforts were brought to the forefront in her book, Silent Spring, which revealed the atrocities of pesticide poisoning. The over-spaying of DDT, dieldrin and other pest killers was poisoning the entire world of living things, humanity included. Rachel's work not only left chemical companies casting about trying to discredit her findings, but, most importantly, prompted an enormous environmental movement which continues today.