Silent Spring - United Diversity

1 Silent Spring THE. EXPLOSIVE. BESTSELLER. THE WHOLE WORLD. IS TALKING ABOUT. RACHEL. CARSON. Author of THE SEA AROUND US. Silent Spring , winner of 8 awards*, is the history making bestseller that stunned the world with its terrifying revelation about our contaminated planet. No science- fiction nightmare can equal the power of this authentic and chilling portrait of the un-seen destroyers which have already begun to change the shape of life as we know it. Silent Spring is a devastating attack on human carelessness, greed and irresponsibility.

2 It should be read by every American who does not want it to be the epitaph of a world not very far beyond us in time.. --- Saturday Review *Awards received by Rachel Carson for Silent Spring : The Schweitzer Medal (Animal Welfare Institute). The Constance Lindsay Skinner Achievement Award for merit in the realm of books (Women's National book Association). Award for Distinguished Service (New England Outdoor Writers Association). Conservation Award for 1962 (Rod and Gun Editors of Metropolitan Manhattan).

3 Conservationist of the Year (National Wildlife Federation). 1963 Achievement Award (Albert Einstein College of Medicine --- Women's Division). Annual Founders Award (Isaak Walton League). Citation (International and Councils of Women). Silent Spring ( By Rachel Carson ). I recommend Silent Spring above all other books. --- N. J. Berrill author of MAN'S. EMERGING MIND. "Certain to be history-making in its influence upon thought and public policy all over the world." -- book -of-the-Month Club News "Miss Carson is a scientist and is not given to tossing serious charges around carelessly.

4 When she warns us, as she does with such a profound sense of urgency, we ought to take heed. Silent Spring may well be one of the great and lowering books of our time. This book is must reading for every responsible citizen." --Chicago Daily "Miss Carson's cry of warning is timely. If our species cannot police itself against overpopulation, nuclear weapons and pollution, it may become extinct." --The New York Times "A great woman has awakened the Nation by her forceful account of the dangers around us.

5 We owe much to Rachel Carson." --Stewart L. Udall, Secretary of the Interior "It is high time for people to know about these rapid changes in their environment, and to take an effective part in the battle that may shape the future of all life on earth." -The New York Times book Review{front page}. "It should come as no surprise that the gifted author of THE SEA AROUN US can take another branch of science .. and bring it so sharply into focus that any intelligent layman can understand what she is talking about.

6 Understand, yes, and shudder, for she has drawn a living portrait of what is happening to this balance of nature as decreed in the science of life --- and what man is doing (and has done) to destroy it and create a science of death." -Virginia Kirkus Bulletin Silent Spring By Rachel Carson (ONE SIN GLE book WHICH BROUGHT THE ISSUE OF PESTICIDES CENTERSTAGE. WITH MASS SCALE POISONING. OF THE LAND WITH PESTICIDES AN D WITH THOUSAN DS OF FARMERS COMMITTIN G SUICIDE THIS book IS. ESSENTIAL FOR PUBLIC RESEARCH IN IN DIA.)

7 A CREST REPRINT. FAWCETT PUBLICATIONS, INC., GREENWICH, CONN. MEMBER OF AMERICAN book PUBLISHERS COUNCIL, INC. To Albert Schweitzer who said Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth.. Contents i. Acknowledgments ii. Foreword 1. A Fable for Tomorrow 2. The Obligation to Endure 3. Elixirs of Death 4. Surface Waters and Underground Seas 5. Realms of the Soil 6. Earth's Green Mantle 7. Needless Havoc 8. And No Birds Sing 9. Rivers of Death 10. Indiscriminately from the Skies 11.

8 Beyond the Dreams of the Borgias 12. The Human Price 13. Through a Narrow Window 14. One in Every Four 15. Nature Fights Back 16. The Rumblings of an Avalanche 17. The Other Road Acknowledgments IN A LETTER written in January 1958, Olga Owens Huckins told me of her own bitter experience of a small world made lifeless, and so brought my attention sharply back to a problem with which I had long been concerned. I then realized I must write this book . During the years since then I have received help and encouragement from so many people that it is not possible to name them all here.

9 Those who have freely shared with me the fruits of many years' experience and study represent a wide variety of government agencies in this and other countries, many universities and research institutions, and many professions. To all of them I express my deepest thanks for time and thought so generously given. In addition my special gratitude goes to those who took time to read portions of the manuscript and to offer comment and criticism based on their own expert knowledge. Although the final responsibility for the accuracy and validity of the text is mine, I could not have completed the book without the generous help of these specialists: L.

10 G. Bartholomew, , of the Mayo Clinic, John J. Biesele of the University of Texas, A. W. A. Brown of the University of Western Ontario, Morton S. Biskind, , of Westport, Connecticut, C. J. Briejer of the Plant Protection Service in Holland, Clarence Cottam of the Rob and Bessie Welder Wildlife Foundation, George Crile, Jr., , of the Cleveland Clinic, Frank Egler of Norfolk, Connecticut, Malcolm M. Hargraves, , of the Mayo Clinic, W. C. Hueper, , of the National Cancer Institute, C. J. Kerswill of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Olaus Murie of the Wilderness Society, A.