Originally serialized in 1962 by The New Yorker and later published by Houghton Mifflin, Rachel
Carson's controversial book, Silent Spring, mobilized people the world over—and in a way no other
comparable work of twentieth century nonfiction had. Besides raising our consciousness about
ecology and launching the modern environmentalist movement, Carson's sobering exposé of the
pesticide industry's campaign of disinformation inspired a 1972 ban that brought an end to the use of
DDT in the United States.
A 1957 lawsuit indicting the U.S. Department of Agriculture over aerial spraying of Long Island,
coupled with a friend's letter to The Boston Herald expressing dismay over the widespread death of
birds on her property after aerial DDT spraying, inspired Carson to begin a research project
examining the environmental impact of pesticides, and in particular the anti-malaria insecticide
campaigns of the Pacific war effort during World War II. That research would become the acclaimed
book, Silent Spring. In it, Carson argued that unregulated pesticide use had serious ramifications for
wildlife and humans, alike; furthermore, the book's poignant title, alluding to a line from a John Keats
poem, prophesied a future in which spring would one day fall eternally silent of all birdsong.
The book's damning message was fiercely polarizing, and a number of her detractors, especially
those gainsaying the "theory" of global warming, have since written many works attempting to
discredit Carson's claims as misinformed, uneducated, or outright propagandistic. Some even
accused Carson of being an hysterical female, articulating a typically sexist sentiment of the time,
when women were considered to have little reputable voice in the sciences. However, because of the
important debate that followed in the wake of its publication, President Kennedy's Science Advisory
Committee investigated, and subsequently validated, Carson's research, resulting in new regulations
that brought to heel large, globally powerful chemical companies like Monsanto and Dow.
Carson continues to gain loyal supporters who have been moved by her courage and changed by her
philosophy of ecology. Co-authors H.F. van Emden (Reading University Professor of Agriculture and
expert in pest management) and David Peakall (internationally recognized toxicologist) co-authored
the 1996 follow-up Beyond Silent Spring, vindicating Carson's research and bringing attention to its
reputable scientific perspective. And, in an era of debate over the science of global warming, Carson
continues to receive frequent and reverential mention, demonstrating that her moniker as the "Mother
of Environmentalism" is no hyperbole. Even former Vice-President Al Gore, reputed for his
involvement in the now iconic eco-documentary An Inconvenient Truth, affirms that Carson has been
more inspirational than any other person in his advocacy of environmental causes. Discover
Magazine selected Silent Spring as one of the twenty-five most important science books of all time,
proving that Rachel Carson's work is seminally important as it continues to speak to future
generations of readers with its thought-provoking perspective and its resilient spirit of
environmentalism.
