Though the scientific community already knew of the dangers, Carson was the first to make the information accessible and palatable to a mass audience in her groundbreaking book. She focused mainly on the insecticide DDT, which had been dubbed “one of the greatest discoveries of World War II” by Time magazine for its ability to kill insects that spread malaria and typhus and was routinely sprayed in homes and on crops.Ĭarson called for much greater caution against these “elixirs of death” and wrote, “If we are living so intimately with chemicals-eating and drinking them, taking them into the very marrow of our bones-we had better know something about their power.” In what she referred to as her “poison book,” Carson revealed the damaging effects of the indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides on the environment. But rather than introducing readers to more of the natural world, the mild-mannered 55-year-old’s latest book warned they could be destroying it. Boudreau date published 1962 ID Number 2013.3104.01 nonaccession number 2013.3104 catalog number 2013.3104.01 Object Name book Physical Description paper (overall material) cloth (overall material) Measurements overall: 22 cm x 15.When Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was published in September 1962, she was already a celebrated American biologist and author best known for her trilogy of lyrical books on the ocean. Location Currently not on view Credit Line Gift of Joan E. The publication of Silent Spring led to an increased public awareness of humanity’s impact on nature and is credited as the beginning of the modern environmental movement, leading to the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 and the banning of DDT in 1972. While noting the benefits of pesticides in fighting insect-borne disease and boosting crop yields, Carson warned about the invisible dangers of indiscriminate insecticide use and its unintended effect on nature. Carson's research on the effect of insecticides (specifically DDT) on bird populations coupled with her moving prose made Silent Spring a best-seller, though chemical companies attacked it as unscientific. Object Details author Carson, Rachel Description The book Silent Spring by biologist and nature writer Rachel Carson was published in 1962. Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, African Art.
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