This deluxe Library of America volume presents one of the landmark books of the twentieth century together with rare letters, speeches, and other writings that reveal the personal courage and passionate commitment of its author, environmentalist Rachel Carson. A huge bestseller when published in 1962, Silent Spring led not only to many of the laws and government agencies that protect our air, land, and water, but prompted a revolution in environmental consciousness. Now for the first time, in previously unpublished and newly collected letters, Carson's groundbreaking expose of the unintended consequences of pesticide use comes together piece-by-piece.

About the Author

Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was born on a family farm near Springdale, Pennsylvania. She earned a master's in zoology at Johns Hopkins before taking a job with the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. She published Under the Sea-Wind (1941), The Sea Around Us (1951, winner of a National Book Award), and The Edge of the Sea (1955). Silent Spring (1962), her expose of the disastrous ecological effects of pesticide use, was an international bestseller.

A research biologist and cancer survivor, Sandra Steingraber was inspired to activism by Silent Spring, becoming one of America's leading environmental writers and antipollution advocates. Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Ithaca College, her books include Living Downstream: An Ecologist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment (1997), Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood (2001), and Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis (2011).

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