Encyclopedia Entries
Questions of
Silent Spring a provocative study of the dangers of certain insecticides, is generally acknowledged as the impetus for the modern environmental movement.
Even before Silent Spring was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1962, there was violent opposition to it. As Time magazine recounts it:
Carson was violently assailed by threats of lawsuits and derision, including suggestions that this meticulous scientist was a "hysterical woman" unqualified to write such a book. A huge counterattack was organized and led by Monsanto, Velsicol, American Cyanamid - indeed, the whole chemical industry - duly supported by the Agriculture Department as well as the more cautious in the media.
Reading
Under the Sea Wind (1941)
The Sea Around Us (1951)
The Edge of the Sea (1954)
Silent Spring (1962)
Writing available on the net
Commentaries
RachelCarson.org (http://www.rachelcarson.org) The life and legacy of Rachel CarsonSilent Spring Institute (http://www.silentspring.org) Research on the environment and women's health, especially breast cancer
The Mosquito Killer (http://www.gladwell.com/2001/2001_07_02_a_ddt.htm)
Time magazine's "100 most important people" article on Carson (http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/carson.html)
See biographies by J. Harlan (1989) and L. Lear (1997).
Quotations
"The more I learned about the use of pesticides, the more appalled I became."
"What I discovered was that everything which meant most to me as a naturalist was being threatened, and that nothing I could do would be more important."