by Rachel Carson

Born in 1907, Rachel Carson grew up on a sixty-five-acre farm and spent much of her young life outdoors while recovering from frequent illnesses. Carson, who was inspired to learn by her mother, attended Pennsylvania College for Women, at first pursuing her childhood dream to become a writer, then in her junior year changing her major to biology. After graduation she combined her two interests, becoming a writer for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. A summer of study at Woods Hole, Massachusetts prompted Carson to write The Sea around Us (1951), a book that gained her widespread recognition. In 1958 she began an investigation of human and environmental tragedies related to the use of pesticides. Her book-length essay Silent Spring presents a continuing list of misuses and careless uses of various pesticides from arsenic to aldrin, one of the many chlorinated hydrocarbons and phosphate-based chemicals...