Rachel Carson is best remembered for her groundbreaking book Silent Spring, which first brought to public attention the environmental damage caused by chemical fertilizers and such pesticides as DDT and spurred legislative efforts to clean the environment. An essayist for Feminist Writers noted that "Upon its publication in 1962, Silent Spring, Carson's pioneering polemic on the harm caused by industrial technology, made Americans and the world gain a new awareness of their environment. Fostered by a concern over the diminishing numbers of New England songbirds, Carson's work on behalf of biological preservation served as the foundation for the environmental movement of the last half of the 20th century."

The youngest of three children, Carson was born on May 27, 1907, in Springdale, Pennsylvania, a small town twenty miles north of Pittsburgh. Her parents, Robert Warden and Maria McLean Carson, lived on sixty-five acres and kept cows, chickens, and horses. Although the...