Silent Spring

Discusses the reckless annihilation of fish and birds by the use of pesticides and warns of the possible genetic effects on humans.

For use in schools and libraries only. Discusses the reckless annihilation of fish and birds by the use of pesticides, and warns of the possible genetic effects on humans.

More than 32 years ago, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring appeared upon the scene as a landmark of literary achievement which contributed greatly to the foundation of the modern environmental movement. Rachel Carson had designed Silent Spring to shock the public into action against the misuse of chemical pesticides. More than anything else, the book also served as an ecological primer, demonstrating the interrelationship of all things and the dependence of each on a healthy environment for survival. Today, Silent Spring is generally credited with providing impetus to the whole range of anti-pollution laws that came into force in the 1970s. It is also perceived as having played a crucial role in the eventual banning of DDT as well as in the restricted use or total phasing out of the most notorious hard pesticides identified in the book. The vigorous growth of the chemical industry geared to the production of newer and ever more powerful pesticides can be traced to the introduc tion of the organochlorine insecticide DDT in the 1940s. These pesticides were meant not only to control insects but also animal pests, disease and weeds. Initially their development was based on the belief that they would provide a definitive solution to pest and vector problems.

No single event played a greater role in the birth of modern environmentalism than the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and its assault on insecticides. The documents collected by Thomas Dunlap trace shifting attitudes toward DDT and pesticides in general through a variety of sources: excerpts from scientific studies and government reports, advertisements from industry journals, articles from popular magazines, and the famous �Fable for Tomorrow� from Silent Spring. Beginning with attitudes toward nature at the turn of the twentieth century, the book moves through the use and early regulation of pesticides; the introduction and early success of DDT; the discovery of its environmental effects; and the uproar over Silent Spring. It ends with recent debates about DDT as a potential solution to malaria in Africa.

Widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement when published 50 years ago, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring had a profound impact on our society. As an iconic work, the book has often been shielded from critical inquiry, but this landmark anniversary provides an excellent opportunity to reassess its legacy and influence. In Silent Spring at 50: The False Crises of Rachel Carson, a team of national experts explores the book’s historical context, the science it was built on, and the policy consequences of its core ideas. Their findings: much of what Carson presented as fact was slanted, and today we know much of it is simply wrong.

Silent Spring is a watershed moment in the history of environmentalism. Credited with launching the modern environmental movement, it provoked the ban on DDT in the US ten years later and it has been an inspiration for feminist health movements. Yet the shift in public health paradigms that Silent Spring enjoined is possibly its most important legacy; one that is foundational for changing the ways in which we think about the health effects of the chemical immersion that constitutes modern life. In synthesizing a jumble of scientific and medical information into a coherent, readable argument about health and environment, Carson successfully challenged major chemical industries and the prevailing paradigm that modern societies could and should exert mastery over nature at any cost. This book provides an in-depth analysis and contextualisation of Silent Spring. It also surveys the lasting impact the text has had on the environmentalist movement in the last fifty years. Carson's Silent Spring is the first book to provide a full overview of what is a seminal work in the history of environmentalism.

"The Myth of Silent Spring challenges the widely held belief that Rachel Carson's celebrated 1962 book catalyzed the American environmental movement. While acknowledging the important contribution of Carson's exposâe, this book draws on a bounty of rich sources to push the movement's origins further back in time. It recognizes a long line of overlooked historical actors and identifies several other critical factors behind the rise of modern environmental thinking and protest. Recovering this slighted history helps us to better understand who should count as an 'environmentalist' and what should count as 'environmentalism,' essential insights for building a hardy environmental movement today and in the future"--Provided by publishe

Widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement when published 50 years ago, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring had a profound impact on our society. As an iconic work, the book has often been shielded from critical inquiry, but this landmark anniversary provides an excellent opportunity to reassess its legacy and influence. In Silent Spring at 50: The False Crises of Rachel Carson, a team of national experts explores the book’s historical context, the science it was built on, and the policy consequences of its core ideas. Their findings: much of what Carson presented as fact was slanted, and today we know much of it is simply wrong.

Fifty years after the publication of the seminal Silent Spring, Conor Mark Jameson reflects on Rachel Carson's legacy and asks the question - are we still silencing the spring?

Modern consumers are well aware that the food they eat is tainted by pesticidal residues; they are less aware that their great-grandparents faced the same hazard. James C. Whorton's history of this public health menace emphasizes that insecticides have been contaminating produce since the introduction of chemical pesticides in the 1860s. The book examines the period before the publication of Rachel Carson's famous Silent Spring, tracing the origins of the residue problem and exploring the complicated network of interest groups that formed around the issue. The author shows how economic necessities, technological limitations, and pressures on regulatory agencies have brought us to "our present dilemma of seemingly having to poison our food in order to protect it." In Part I, the agricultural and medical literature of the past century is used to analyze the emergence by 1920 of a public health danger of serious proportions. Part II draws heavily on the unpublished records of the Food and Drug Administration to document how the ineffective handling of this danger established precedents for present pesticide abuses. Originally published in 1975. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Over millions of years, living creatures have evolved in relation to the Earth's electromagnetic energy. Now, we're surrounded by human-made frequencies that challenge our health and survival. An Electric Silent Spring reports the effects of electrification and wireless devices on people, plants, bee colonies, and frogs around the globe. It presents solutions for people who want to reduce their exposure to electromagnetic radiation. This pioneering book is for anyone concerned about the health of the environment and the people and other creatures that inhabit it.

This deluxe Library of America volume presents one of the landmark books of the twentieth century together with rare letters, speeches, and other writings that reveal the personal courage and passionate commitment of its author, environmentalist Rachel Carson. A huge bestseller when published in 1962, Silent Spring led not only to many of the laws and government agencies that protect our air, land, and water, but prompted a revolution in environmental consciousness. Now for the first time, in previously unpublished and newly collected letters, Carson's groundbreaking expose of the unintended consequences of pesticide use comes together piece-by-piece.

In 1962, the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring sparked widespread public debate on the hazards of pesticide abuse for humans and their environment. This work explores how a newsmaking book enabled a single voice of warning to gain the attention of the entire country, and beyond.

The Sea Around Us reveals the science and poetry of the sea while ranging from its primeval beginnings to the latest scientific probings. Often described as poetic, it is Carsons second published book and the one that launched her into the public eye and a second career as a writer and conservationist. The book was awarded both the 1952 National Book Award for Nonfiction and a Burroughs Medal in nature writing.

Karen F. Stein University of Rhode Island, Kingston, USA Rachel Carson is the twentieth century’s most significant environmentalist. Her books about the sea blend science and poetry as they invite readers to share her celebration of the ocean’s wonders. Silent Spring, her graphic and compelling exposé of the damage caused by the widespread aerial spraying of persistent organic pesticides such as DDT, opened our eyes to the interconnectedness of all living beings and the ecological systems we inhabit. Carson’s work challenges our belief that science and technology can control the natural world, asks us to recognize our place in the world around us, and inspires us to treat the earth respectfully. She calls us to rekindle our sense of wonder at nature’s power and beauty, and to tread lightly on the earth so that it will continue to sustain us and our descendants. This book guides readers on a journey through Carson’s life and work, considers Carson’s legacies, and points to some of the continuing challenges to sustainability. It provides a listing of resources for reading, learning, or teaching about the environment, about nature writing, and about Carson and the crucial issues she addressed.

The authoritative biography of the marine biologist and nature writer whose book Silent Spring inspired the global environmentalist movement. In a career that spanned from civil service to unlikely literary celebrity, Rachel Carson became one of the world’s seminal leaders in conservation. The 1962 publication of her book Silent Spring was a watershed event that led to the banning of DDT and launched the modern environmental movement. Growing up in poverty on a tiny Allegheny River farm, Carson attended the Pennsylvania College for Women on a scholarship. There, she studied science and writing before taking a job with the newly emerging Fish and Wildlife Service. In this definitive biography, Linda Lear traces the evolution of Carson’s private, professional, and public lives, from the origins of her dedication to natural science to her invaluable service as a brilliant, if reluctant, reformer. Drawing on unprecedented access to sources and interviews, Lear masterfully explores the roots of Carson’s powerful connection to the natural world, crafting a “fine portrait of the environmentalist as a human being” (Smithsonian). “Impressively researched and eminently readable . . . Compelling, not just for Carson devotees but for anyone concerned about the environment.” —People “[A] combination of meticulous scholarship and thoughtful, often poignant, writing.” —Science “A sweeping, analytic, first-class biography of Rachel Carson.” —Kirkus Reviews

When Rachel Carson died of cancer in 1964, her four books, including the environmental classic Silent Spring, had made her one of the most famous people in America. This trove of previously uncollected writings is a priceless addition to our knowledge of Rachel Carson, her affinity with the natural world, and her life.