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Silent Spring

by Rachel Carson

Silent Spring Cover

ISBN13: 9780618249060
ISBN10: 0618249060
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Powells.com Staff Pick

Silent Spring changed the way we thought about the environment and shaped today's environmental movement, calling us to action to protect our surroundings before we destroyed them. Today our impact on the environment is more harmful than ever, and Carson's message is just as important.
Recommended by Amy W.

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

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.

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." The New York Times

Synopsis:

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.

Synopsis:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [301]-355) and index.

Table of Contents

'Contents

Acknowledgments viii

Introduction by Linda Lear x

1 a fable for tomorrow 1

2 the obligation to endure 5

3 elixirs of death 15

4 surface waters and underground seas 39

5 realms of the soil 53

6 earth's green mantle 63

7 needless havoc 85

8 and no birds sing 103

9 rivers of death 129

10 indiscriminately from the skies 154

11 beyond the dreams of the borgias 173

12 the human price 187

13 through a narrow window 199

14 one in every four 219

15 nature fights back 245

16 the rumblings of an avalanche 262

17 the other road 277

List of Principal Sources 301

Afterword by Edward O. Wilson 357

Index 365\n

'

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
chocochic53, January 2, 2008 (view all comments by chocochic53)
I read this book for a Biology class at my high school and enjoyed it. It was written in 1962 by a biologist about how chemicals including pesticides like DDT are endangering our environment. It has extremely fascinating stories about real life cases where we learned that chemicals and nature don't mix, but what's even more interesting is how even though these events happened, people still use pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals freely in our world today. I will warn you that I found this book to get pretty long at times, but if you are interested in learning about this topic this book will teach you a lot!
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Effie, July 9, 2007 (view all comments by Effie)
A seminal work of literature that began the environmental green movement as we know it today
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780618249060
Introduction:
Lear, Linda
Afterword:
Wilson, Edward Osborne
Introduction:
Lear, Linda
Author:
Carson, Rachel
Author:
Lear, Linda
Author:
Wilson, Edward O.
Afterword:
Wilson, Edward Osborne
Publisher:
Mariner Books
Location:
Boston
Subject:
General
Subject:
Environmental Science
Subject:
Environmental Conservation & Protection
Subject:
Toxicology
Subject:
Insect pests
Subject:
Pesticides
Subject:
Pesticides and wildlife.
Subject:
Environmental Conservation & Protection - General
Copyright:
Edition Number:
40
Edition Description:
104
Series Volume:
241
Publication Date:
October 2002
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
400
Dimensions:
8.22x5.66x.78 in. .99 lbs.
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