Silent Spring, released in 1962, offered the first shattering look at widespread ecological degradation and touched off an environmental awareness that still exists. Rachel Carson's book focused on the poisons from insecticides, weed killers, and other common products as well as the use of sprays in agriculture, a practice that led to dangerous chemicals to the food source. Carson argued that those chemicals were more dangerous than radiation and that for the first time in history, humans were exposed to chemicals that stayed in their systems from birth to death. Presented with thorough documentation, the book opened more than a few eyes about the dangers of the modern world and stands today as a landmark work.


From Publishers Weekly
This new edition of Carson's classic features a new introduction by Vice President Al Gore. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times Book Review, Lorus Milne and Margery Milne
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. ... Miss Carson, with the fervor of an Ezekiel, is trying to save nature and mankind ...


The New York Times
"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. ... Miss Carson, with the fervor of an Ezekiel, is trying to save nature and mankind ..."


From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Prudence Hockley
Silent Spring, one of the first calls for public awareness and environmental action and a seminal work of the 1960s, examines the way dangerous chemicals have been used without sufficient research or regard for their potential to harm wildlife, water, soil, and humans, creating a sinister chain of poisoning and death. Silent Spring is meticulously researched and accessible to the lay reader; its message is as clear as it is devastating: humans have willfully disturbed the whole web of life, the "intimate and essential relations" between the earth and all its passengers, animate and inanimate. Rachel Carson's work is informed by an appreciation of the intricate beauty of a flourishing environment, her sorrow over what has already been irrevocably changed or lost, and her sense that humankind is immeasurably diminished by heedlessness and aggression. Thirty years after it was first published, this landmark study is still eloquent, chilling, and, regrettably, timely. Also a portrait of corporate greed and the arrogance and irresponsibility of control agencies and individual specialists, Silent Spring speaks out against the way in which a single species, gifted with ingenuity and intelligence, has misused its power to assault the integrity of the environment. An elegy to a world once perfectly in balance, it is a heartfelt call for imagination, care, and humility, as we move to pre-empt our own destruction and find a way to live harmoniously in our natural world. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14.


Review
"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. ... Miss Carson, with the fervor of an Ezekiel, is trying to save nature and mankind ..."


Book Description
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.


From The WomanSource Catalog & Review: Tools for Connecting the Community for Women; review by SH
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-spraying 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.


About the Author
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 Bee Plumber 76: 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.

FROM OUR EDITORS

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.

FROM THE PUBLISHER