Synopses & Reviews
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, and her eloquent book was instrumental in launching the environmental movement. It is without question one of the landmark books of the twentieth century.
Silent Spring served as a touchstone for Al Gore while he was working on his widely praised, bestselling book on the environment, Earth in the Balance. Now Rachel Carson's message is more important than ever, and no one is more qualified than Al Gore to introduce her classic book to a new generation of readers.
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.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [301]-355) and index.
About the Author
Rachel Carson (19071964) 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.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction by Vice President Al Gore xv
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 Principle Sources 301
Index 357