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.