Silent Spring - 40th Edition by Rachel Carson (Paperback)

About the Book

The essential, cornerstone book of modern environmentalism is now offered in a handsome 40th anniversary edition which features a new Introduction by activist Terry Tempest Williams and a new Afterword by Carson biographer Linda Lear.

Book Synopsis

THE CLASSIC THAT LAUNCHED THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT

"Rachel Carson is a pivotal figure of the twentieth century...people who thought one way before her essential 1962 book Silent Spring thought another way after it."--Margaret Atwood

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 banning of DDT and spurred revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water. Carson's passionate concern for the future of our planet reverberated powerfully throughout the world. As Carson reminds us, "In nature, nothing exists alone."

The introduction by the acclaimed biographer Linda Lear, author of Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature, tells the story of Carson's courageous defense of her truths in the face of a ruthless assault form the chemical industry following the publication of Silent Spring and before her untimely death.

"Wonder and humility are just some of the gifts of Silent Spring. They remind us that we, like all other living creatures, are part of the vast ecosystems of the earth of the earth...this is a book to relish: not for the dark side of human nature, but for the promise of life's possibility." --from the Introduction

Review Quotes

"Rachel Carson is a pivotal figure of the twentieth century...people who thought one way before her essential 1962 book Silent Spring thought another way after it." - Margaret Atwood

"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

About the Author

RACHEL CARSON, 1907-1964, spent a good deal of her professional life as a marine biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Her first three books -- Under the Sea-Wind, The Sea Around Us, and The Edge of the Sea -- established her reputation as a first-rate writer on the natural world.