Amazon.com
Silent Spring, released in 1962, offered the first shattering look at widespread ecological degradation and touched off an environmental awareness that still exists. Rachel Carson's book focused on the poisons from insecticides, weed killers, and other common products as well as the use of sprays in agriculture, a practice that led to dangerous chemicals to the food source. Carson argued that those chemicals were more dangerous than radiation and that for the first time in history, humans were exposed to chemicals that stayed in their systems from birth to death. Presented with thorough documentation, the book opened more than a few eyes about the dangers of the modern world and stands today as a landmark work.
Book Description
First published by Houghton Mifflin in 1962, Silent Spring alerted a large audience to the environmental and human dangers of indiscriminate use of pesticides, spurring revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water."Silent Spring became a runaway bestseller, with international reverberations . . . [It is] well crafted, fearless and succinct . . . Even if she had not inspired a generation of activists, Carson would prevail as one of the greatest nature writers in American letters" (Peter Matthiessen, forTime's 100 Most Influential People of the Century). This fortieth anniversary edition celebrates Rachel Carson's watershed book with a new introduction by the author and activist Terry Tempest Williams and a new afterword by the acclaimed Rachel Carson biographer Linda Lear, who tells the story of Carson's courageous defense of her truths in the face of ruthless assault from the chemical industry in the year following the publication of Silent Spring and before her untimely death in 1964.
Customer Reviews:
The Facts!!.......2007-08-07
Perhaps her cause was just in writing this book, but her short-sighted ignorance of the repercussions was inexcusable. Because of the ban on DDT which largely resulted from Silent Spring, the WHO has estimated that around 20 MILLION children have died of malaria.
DDT was, & still is, one of the very best insecticides to control mosquitoes, the sole transporter of this deadly disease. Best of all, DDT is very NON-toxic to humans.
The need for DDT is so urgent that even the Sierra Club is justifying it's use inside houses in malaria stricken locations of Africa, South America, & Asia.
Way to go Rachel. Save the Birds, Kill the Children...Wake Up People!!
Important but boring.......2007-06-13
I thought that "Silent Spring" would be an interesting book to read. After all, is supposedly launched the modern environmental movement. However, after reading about 80 pages into the book I started to feel like I was reading the same thing over and over again: pesticides and herbicides are bad and should not be applied to the side of the road. OK, I get the point. I then flipped to page 250 or so, and do you know what I saw? More discussion of how pesticides and herbicides are bad!
Maybe back at that time it was not a self-evident truth that it is a bad thing to go around spraying shit all over the side of the road. But even then, you would think that a disucssion of this matter could be confined to 100 pages or less. A final issue is that the book does not seem to possess a modern understanding of certain subjects (since when do hydrologists refer to groundwater as "underground rivers"?). Although this is not the fault of the book, I do not know why anyone other than a science historian would want to spend much time on it.
Oh Yeah, this book also killed millions of people. The banning of DDT probably led to millions of deaths from malaria. Even today, about 2 million people die from it every year.
A Classic Read.......2007-05-11
Joni Mitchell perhaps most aptly summarizes the driving idea of Silent Spring in her song "Big Yellow Taxi": "Hey farmer farmer / Put away that DDT now / Give me spots on my apples / But leave me the birds and the bees. Please!" While both the book and the song are a bit outdated in the United States as DDT was banned in 1972, it's still an interesting analysis of insecticides/herbicides, societies relationship with science, and the effects a capitalistic driven culture has on the environment. Likewise, the interaction of the natural web and human's impact on it is greatly emphasized. Something I've always found interesting about Carson and her book was the publics (often misogynistic) reaction to her as being "hysterical" and my favorite quote from a board member of the Federal Pest Control Review Board: "I thought she was a spinster. What's she so worried about genetics for?"
last minute purchase.......2007-04-04
My daughter had to have this for English and of course she waited till the last minute. To her surprise, she enjoyed the book and the author's writing very much. As usual Amazon saved the day with a huge selection and fast shipping.
Al Gore surely loves this.......2007-03-26
Hurrah for "sustainability" and "biodiversity"! Down with the human race!
Book Description
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring antagonized some of the most powerful interests in the nation--including the farm block and the agricultural chemical industry--and helped launch the modern environmental movement. In The Gentle Subversive, Mark Hamilton Lytle offers a compact life of Carson, illuminating the road that led to this vastly influential book. Lytle explores the evolution of Carson's ideas about nature, her love for the sea, her career as a biologist, and above all her emergence as a writer of extraordinary moral and ecological vision. We follow Carson from her childhood on a farm outside Pittsburgh, where she first developed her love of nature (and where, at age eleven, she published her first piece in a children's magazine), to her graduate work at Johns Hopkins and her career with the Fish and Wildlife Service. Lytle describes the genesis of her first book, Under a Sea Wind, the incredible success of The Sea Around Us (a New York Times Bestseller for over a year), and her determination to risk her fame in order to write her "poison book": Silent Spring. The author contends that despite Carson's demure, lady-like demeanor, she was subversive in her thinking and aggressive in her campaign against pesticides. Carson became the spokeswoman for a network of conservationists, scientists, and concerned citizens who had come to fear the mounting dangers of the human assault on nature. What makes this story particularly compelling is that Carson took up this cause at the very moment when she herself faced a losing battle against cancer. Succinct and engaging, The Gentle Subversive is a story of success, celebrity, controversy, and vindication. It will inspire anyone interested in protecting the natural world or in women's struggle to find a voice in society.
Customer Reviews:
A sensitive subject indeed.......2007-06-25
Rachel Carson's careless criticism of DDT killed millions of people, mostly poor children, a point that deserved better coverage in this book. Even today, decades later, there is still no good alternative to DDT for fighting malaria.
Carson was correct to point out that DDT has very bad side effects, but as it turns out, banning DDT has had much worse side effects. Science eventually determined that very small amounts of DDT would have been effective against malaria-carrying mosquitos and safe for the environment-- but Carson's rush to judgement prevented the scientific facts from being adequately investigated and considered.
She and her followers in the environmentalist movement refused to consider the full consequences of their actions, and millions of people have paid the price for that refusal.
. png
A Beautiful Tribute to the Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson.......2007-03-08
Mark Lytle does fine justice to the legacy of Rachel Carson in this well researched summary of her early life, upbringing, education, professional experiences, evolution of her writing and publishing culminating with the struggles to write and publish her most potent and last book, "Silent Spring", a dire warning of how deadly pesticide and herbicide assaults were damaging the health of ecosystems and non-targeted life forms including humans and which many proffer, launched the modern age of environmentalism.
Lytle continues Carson's beautiful legacy in his "Epilogue" and "Afterword".
Packed with an abundance of notes, citations and bibliography, this little book gives one a huge sense of awe and admiration for Carson's perseverance and dedication to educate the world about the interconnectedness and beauty of Nature and to cultivate a sense of responsibility and good stewardship.
Book Description
While cultural and scholarly traditions have led us to believe that war and control of nature are separate, there are many more similarities than most people might suspect. Tracing the history of chemical warfare and pest control, Edmund Russell shows how war and control of nature coevolved. Ideologically, institutionally, and technologically, the paths of chemical warfare and pest control intersected repeatedly in the twentieth century. War and Nature helps us to understand the impact of war on nature and vice versa, as well as the development of total war, and the rise of the modern environmental movement. Edmund Russell is an assistant professor in the Division of Technology, Culture, and Communication in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia. This is his first book.
Customer Reviews:
creative synthesis.......2003-05-01
In War and Nature Edmund Russell, Associate Professor of Technology, Culture, and Communication at the University of Virginia, cleverly traces the interaction between chemical warfare and pest control from World War I to the Vietnam War. His central thesis is that war and control of nature have coevolved: "the control of nature expanded the scale of war, and war expanded the scale on which people controlled nature" (p. 2). Following up on his dissertation (University of Michigan, 1993), which won the Rachel Carson Prize from the American Society for Environmental History, Russell culled a wide variety of recently declassified U.S. government documents, business publications, and contemporary books and articles. Russell finds that World Wars I and II and the Cold War forged close ties between military and scientific institutions, and efforts to maintain such links became hallmarks of the post-World War II era. Scientifically and technologically, pest control and chemical warfare each created knowledge and tools that reinforced the other (p. 4) For example, on the eve of World War I, there were few U.S. chemical companies. They manufactured primarily low-profit bulk chemicals. In contrast, Germany had the best chemical factories and schools and had the largest output of sophisticated products. Eight German companies made up almost 80 percent of the world's dyes (p. 18). However, the increased use of mustard and chlorine gas in the war boosted the demand by European allies for these chemicals from the United States. The "Chemical Warfare Service" was created within the U.S. Army to employ civilian chemists to conduct research on war gases. This research also stimulated the invention of new insecticides to deal with such menaces as the boll weevil (attacking cotton crops), house fly (spreading typhus), the San Jose scale (damaging fruit trees), and mosquitoes (spreading malaria).
The use of chemicals in warfare is not new. Interestingly, Russell points out that the first recorded use of poison gas was in 428 BC, when Spartans besieging Plataea attempted to kill its defenders by burning wood soaked in pitch and sulfur under city walls (p. 4). However, chemical warfare increased throughout the twentieth century. According to Russell, at least 90,000 people were killed in World War I by gas, and estimated 350,000 were killed by gas in World War II, not including all the victims in Hitler's gas chambers. Even these figures seem low. Russell skillfully shows through cartoons how federal entomologists and chemists used insects in their propaganda as metaphors for human enemies. One cartoon depicts a conversation between two worms, one of them exclaiming: "What! Me sabotage that guy's victory garden? What do you take me for-a Jap? (p. 100)."
The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 sought to exclude gas from warfare and define the rights of combatants. Public outrage at the use of chemicals as weapons of war continued to mount. After World War II, the Chemical Warfare Service and other chemical companies lobbied Congress vigorously, stressing the need to develop war gases as insecticides, for which increased funding was required. Noted chemists testified before Congress, claiming also that chemical and biological warfare was "more humane" than conventional warfare. According to Russell, who interviewed several of these chemists, Chief Chemical Officer William Creasy inanely argued in 1958 that 25,000 American casualties on Iwo Jima could have been avoided had the U.S. military employed chemical weapons (p. 208). Miracle "psychochemicals" were promoted, such as LSD-25 that could temporarily incapacitate troops but not permanently harm them. Russell cites a US Army propaganda film produced in 1958 in which a cat chased and caught a mouse, inhaled an unnamed gas, and then cowered from another mouse (p. 208). This publicity campaign persuaded Pentagon authorities to increase the U.S. Army's budget to $80,000,000 for chemical research.
Research to fight insects increased simultaneously with the development of chemicals to fight humans. As thousands of families moved to the suburbs in the 1950s, gardening became a popular hobby and stimulated the desire for pest control. Pesticide manufacturers such as Du Pont and Dow increased their marketing to this group of consumers, while federal crop dusting programs using DDT were initiated.
Russell shows how Rachel Carson's publication of Silent Spring in 1962 galvanized the American environmental movement, leading eventually to the ban on DDT in 1972. This immediate bestseller detailed the noxious effects of DDT on plants and animals and characterized pest control as a self-defeating form of warfare (p. 229).
Reading this book, one is struck by the immense irony of the twentieth century and the causal interaction of peace and war. Never before have so many human lives been saved (thanks to pesticides killing disease-carrying insects and increasing crop yields) and so many destroyed (mostly due to incendiaries, but also chemical weapons). Americans got better at saving lives partly because they got better at taking them, and vice versa. While War and Nature is almost too dazzling in its rich detail and sometimes a bit careless in its logic (e.g. implying that human beings should not be considered part of nature), the book breaks new ground in its connection of two traditionally disparate fields of inquiry, environmental and military history. It should be required reading in college courses in both security studies and environmental science.---Johanna Granville, Ph.D. (Stanford University)
angels and insects.......2002-10-01
World War I was just the beginning of an ongoing cultural and scientific process in which chemical based weapons were created and marketed for use against human and insect enemies. Russell reminds us that the cultural, institutional, and political evolution of twentieth century science and warfare in the United States began not with the J. Robert Oppenheimer and the physicists of Los Alamos but with chemists like James B. Conant and his colleagues at Harvard and American University, emergent corporations like Dupont and the Hooker Company, and government agencies such as the Department of Agriculture and the United States Chemical Warfare Service. With an eye for detail and a witty and readable narrative style, the author assembles scientific papers, declassified governmental and military planning documents, trade journals, and propaganda and advertising literature to reshape our understanding not only of the role of chemistry in warfare, but more importantly the reflexive nature of our understanding and relation to both technology and nature during times of peace.
Customer Reviews:
The Facts!!.......2007-08-07
Perhaps her cause was just in writing this book, but her short-sighted ignorance of the repercussions was inexcusable. Because of the ban on DDT which largely resulted from Silent Spring, the WHO has estimated that around 20 MILLION children have died of malaria.
DDT was, & still is, one of the very best insecticides to control mosquitoes, the sole transporter of this deadly disease. Best of all, DDT is very NON-toxic to humans.
The need for DDT is so urgent that even the Sierra Club is justifying it's use inside houses in malaria stricken locations of Africa, South America, & Asia.
Way to go Rachel. Save the Birds, Kill the Children...Wake Up People!!
Silent Spring.......2005-11-11
This monumental classic was at the forefront of the enviremental movement. This is the book that for the 1st time make the public aware of the devastating effects of poisens on the envirement and ultimately, us. The most significent study of the balance of nature and how man is destroying it, especially with chemistry. Rachel Carson, a biologist who spent 4 1/2 years gathering data, explains in laymans terms how we are poisening the atmosphere. A prelude to 'Global Warming'.
Customer Reviews:
The Facts!!.......2007-08-07
Perhaps her cause was just in writing this book, but her short-sighted ignorance of the repercussions was inexcusable. Because of the ban on DDT which largely resulted from Silent Spring, the WHO has estimated that around 20 MILLION children have died of malaria.
DDT was, & still is, one of the very best insecticides to control mosquitoes, the sole transporter of this deadly disease. Best of all, DDT is very NON-toxic to humans.
The need for DDT is so urgent that even the Sierra Club is justifying it's use inside houses in malaria stricken locations of Africa, South America, & Asia.
Way to go Rachel. Save the Birds, Kill the Children...Wake Up People!!
Book Description
A centenary celebration of the life of Rachel Carson, the writer/scientist whose book Silent Spring inspired a generation of environmental activists. Courage for the Earth gathers 13 essays from leading writers, activists, and scientists such as biographer Linda Lear, biologist Edward O. Wilson, Vice President Al Gore, and nature writer Terry Tempest Williams. These and more tell how their lives have been changed by Rachel Carson's pioneering Silent Spring and by her earlier, lyrical nature writing on the sea. Contributors also give biographical insight on Rachel Carson's courage in the face of her own cancer and the concurrent attacks by the chemical industry in 1963, the year following the publication of Silent Spring and before her untimely death.
Book Description
Craig Waddell presents essays investigating Rachel Carson’s influential 1962 book, Silent Spring. In his foreword, Paul Brooks, Carson’s editor at Houghton Mifflin, describes the process that resulted in Silent Spring. In an afterword, Linda Lear, Carson’s recent biographer, recalls the end of Carson’s life and outlines the attention that Carson’s book and Carson herself received from scholars and biographers, attention that focused so minutely on her life that it detracted from a focus on her work. The foreword by Brooks and the afterword by Lear frame this exploration within the context of Carson’s life and work.
Contributors are Edward P. J. Corbett, Carol B, Gartner, Cheryll Glotfelty, Randy Harris, M. Jimmie Killingsworth, Linda Lear, Ralph H. Lutts, Christine Oravec, Jacqueline S. Palmer, Markus J. Peterson, Tarla Rai Peterson, and Craig Waddell. Together, these essays explore Silent Spring’s effectiveness in conveying its disturbing message and the rhetorical strategies that helped create its wide influence.
Book Description
The five Great Lakes, Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario with their connecting waters are the world’s largest freshwater system; about 20 per cent of all the fresh surface water on this planet. Each lake differs from the other and yet these connected lakes are one flowing system connected to the Atlantic through the St. Lawrence River. Unique ecosystems evolved in these lakes since the last Ice Age but in the last 200 years commercial fishing and the Lamprey Eel wiped out larger fish. Shipping on the Great Lakes from all parts of the world has brought exotic species that threaten to topple food pyramids. Pollution carried through the air and water damages life in and around these lakes. Through knowledge, and the democratic process, The Dynamic Great Lakes encourages us to appreciate and understand these lakes and to get involved in finding answers to their problems.
Customer Reviews:
A Great Lakes Primer.......2007-04-15
Barbara Spring's The Dynamic Great Lakes is a primer on the ecology of the Great Lakes. Written simply and clearly, this relatively short work begins with an overview of Great Lakes ecology and geology. It then takes us on a tour of each lake, highlighting both the natural ecology and environmental problems of each. She concludes with an overview of the 21st century challenges the lakes face, and a challenge to us all to work for their preservation.
Like a good teacher, Barbara repeats herself patiently and expresses herself simply so everyone will understand. The charm of the book made it easy to overlook a few minor inaccuracies. And, in the end, I learned a thing or two, which is probably what Barbara hoped for.
Many of us know very little about the five Great Lakes.......2004-04-25
Many of us know very little about the five Great Lakes other than perhaps being able to name them. As Barbara Spring states in her introduction to her outstanding primer The Dynamic Great Lakes they are "a flowing river of seas left behind by Ice Age glaciers and are nearly twenty percent of the world's supply of fresh surface water; the world's greatest freshwater system." The ecosystem of this great body of water is very complex and unfortunately due to pollution and the fallout of modern industry and agriculture they have gone through a gradual transformation.
One of the unique characteristics of this compact book is that it is written in a language devoid of esoteric explanations. The eight chapters of the book reflect the author's teaching and journalistic aptitudes in knowing how to unravel the mystery of the Great Lakes and the many painful dangers it has faced and continues to face.
Each of the five Lakes is introduced with a brief synopsis of important elements distinguishing one from the other such as: elevation, length, breadth, average depth, maximum depth, volume, water area, retention time, population and outlet. From this point of departure the author deals with the various changes that have taken place as well as the various major issues affecting the Lakes. There are also brief descriptions of the various animal life found in each of the Lakes and how they have been affected by pollution and the appearance of harmful species, such as the Lamprey Eel.
However, we are also reminded throughout the reading of the book that "people power" can have an effect and if we band together and make our voices heard we could exert influence in reversing some of the harmful trends that have caused ecological disaster. For example we are apprised of the situation that occurred in relation to Lake Erie. In 1969 a tributary river of Lake Erie, the Cayahoga, caught on fire due to being heavily coated with oil and debris. As a result, the Federal Water Quality Administration launched a one and half billion dollar municipal sewage treatment program for the Erie Basin which included the five surrounding states: Michigan, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, and Indiana.
The conclusion of the book most appropriately reminds us that: "we are all challenged to use our knowledge, creativity and common sense to keep the Great Lakes great. Can you think of ways to think globally and act locally?" We are also warned " life on earth is only possible as long as our limited life support system works."
Norm Goldman Editor of Bookpleasures.com
Recommended Reading.......2003-02-21
I would recommend this book to anyone who lives on or near the Great Lakes or to anyone interested in preserving the environment. The author taught me as much about the havoc the modern world has strewn on the natural world as she did about Superior, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Erie.
Description book.......2002-09-29
The five great lakes are between the boundaries of Canada and USA. The book describes the lakes, one by one with lots of details. The great lakes are the most important liquid water reserve. Each lake is different. There are ecosystems like nowhere in the world. We have to protect them. The lakes are not usually well known, so with this book, you discover a fantastic area !!
Beautifully Written.......2002-04-15
I have a great interest in saving our environment. The only way to do this is through knowledge. I am thankful to the authors that bring their vast knowledge to the reading public.
This book is a masterpiece, filled with fascinating information and references. Barbara Spring has done an outstanding job of bringing her love of the Great Lakes to others. I have been watching the return of the bald eagles to New England. What a wonderous sight to see them soaring overhead after an absence of many years. This was made possible by active ecologists and hard working nature enthusiasts. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about saving the Great Lakes. I feel that this book should be a required read for science classes.
Book Description
From the final decades of the eighteenth century to the present day, a relatively few social and political documents have been written and circulated, then have gone on to change the course of human history. The Manifesto Series surveys some of those documents, presents an account of each manifestoÂ's immediate impact, then explains how and why its influence spread to a wider audience. Brief and concisely written, each title in this series makes engrossing reading and provides readers with insights into the dynamics of modern history. Each title in this series is enhanced with approximately 70 color illustrations. Lengthy excerpts from Rachel CarsonÂ's compelling Silent Spring are presented in this book, with extensive commentary and analysis. CarsonÂ's book, published in the 1960s, exposed the hazards inflicted on the earthÂ's environment by powerful industrial concerns. Her book focused especially on the harmful effects of DDT, while on a broader level it also questioned the domination of our culture by modern technology. Silent Spring thus became a springboard for a multitude of environmental movements and reforms which, to the present day, influence all of our lives for the better.
Average customer rating:
- Great Analysis of What This Book Did
- A Scholarly Page-Turner
- An exceptional history which is strongly recommended for any reader of Silent Spring
- An exceptional history which is strongly recommended for any reader of Silent Spring
|
What a Book Can Do: The Publication and Reception of Silent Spring (Studies in Print Culture and the History of the Book)
Priscilla Coit Murphy
Manufacturer: University of Massachusetts Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Sustainable Development
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Books & Reading
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Women Writers & Feminist Theory
| Books & Reading
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Criticism & Theory
| History & Criticism
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Media Studies
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Culture
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Women Writers
| Women's Studies
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Conservation
| Environment
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Hazardous Waste
| Environmental
| Civil
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1558495827 |
Book Description
In 1962 the publication of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" sparked widespread public debate on the hazards of pesticide abuse for humans and their environment. With-in a year, the controversy had spread throughout print and broadcast media. Despite its preliminary appearance in a magazine, "Silent Spring" reached the full media system and made its lasting impres-sion in the form of a book. With clarity and precision, Priscilla Coit Murphy explores how a newsmaking book enabled a single voice of warning to gain the attention of the entire country, and beyond.
Murphy's exploration follows the story of the book and the controversy, beginning with the author's mission and the response of her publishers, Houghton Mifflin and the "New Yorker." Focus then turns to Carson's opponents and their counter campaign, including their efforts to undermine, delay, or stop publication altogether. Moving next to the media, Murphy describes how, beyond providing a forum for the debate, they became active participants in it. Finally, she examines the general public's perceptions and expectations regarding the book, the debate, and the media. Shedding new light on the dynamic between newsmaking books, the media, and the public, Murphy raises a host of broader questions about the place of dissenting books in American culture, past, present, and future.
Customer Reviews:
Great Analysis of What This Book Did.......2007-03-28
As the sub-title says, this book is primarily on the publication and reception of Silent Spring. It talks about the effort to get it published, the response of the pesticide industry, how the media handled it and so on. But there are a few points the author made that I think worth special mention.
One is the fact that now, 45 years after its publication, the book is still in print. This implies that there is still sufficient readership that the publisher finds it worth its while to keep ordering more when copies on hand run out.
Another is how could one distinguish a book like this which somehow generates such worldwide interest, in fact it could be argued that it created the environmental movement as we know it today with it's accompanying set of laws.
Finally just what is it that makes 'Silent Spring' so effective, while other books on equally important aspects of our future such as 'The Limits to Growth,' or books on Hubbard's Peak (of oil production) be so generally ignored. Was it the writing style? The media attention?
Ms. Murphy has done a fascinating job of looking at 'Silent Spring.' I think she has just scratched the surface about 'What a Book Can Do.' I hope she continues her research in this area.
A Scholarly Page-Turner.......2006-10-27
Many readers might never pick up this book unless a Media or Environmental Studies professor placed it on the Required Reading List. In libraries, it probably hides behind a multi-digit call number. But lucky students! To find such an oasis in the academic desert! As far as I can tell, "What a Book Can Do" is THE thorough, scholarly, insightful study of the astonishing impact "Silent Spring" produced on our consciousness and our culture. But more than that: the stories behind the stories behind the stories, concerning not just Rachel Carson but also all the other parties affected by her work, are truly fascinating. "What a Book Can Do" is a real page-turner. Read it.
An exceptional history which is strongly recommended for any reader of Silent Spring.......2005-10-07
In 1962 the appearance of naturalist Rachel Carson's Silent Spring not only sparked debate on pesticide and ecology issues; it helped change the nature and effectiveness of preservation efforts around the world. It first appeared as a magazine serialization, but its book version really reached out to larger audiences. Priscilla Coit Murphy's What A Book Can Do: The Publication And Reception Of Silent Spring isn't just another analysis of the book itself: it's a review of the publishing history of the Houghton Mifflion edition and the prior New Yorker serialization, incorporating the views of her editors as well as Carson herself - and her opponents. An exceptional history which is strongly recommended for any reader of Silent Spring.
An exceptional history which is strongly recommended for any reader of Silent Spring.......2005-10-07
In 1962 the appearance of naturalist Rachel Carson's Silent Spring not only sparked debate on pesticide and ecology issues; it helped change the nature and effectiveness of preservation efforts around the world. It first appeared as a magazine serialization, but its book version really reached out to larger audiences. Priscilla Coit Murphy's What A Book Can Do: The Publication And Reception Of Silent Spring isn't just another analysis of the book itself: it's a review of the publishing history of the Houghton Mifflion edition and the prior New Yorker serialization, incorporating the views of her editors as well as Carson herself - and her opponents. An exceptional history which is strongly recommended for any reader of Silent Spring.
Books:
- The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds
- The Cruise of the Corwin: Journal of the Arctic Expedition of 1881
- The Divine Origin of the Craft of the Herbalist
- The Encyclopedia of Mammals (Facts on File Natural Science Library)
- The Fishes of Illinois
- The Four-Cornered Falcon: Essays on the Interior West and the Natural Scene (Creating the North American Landscape)
- The Glory Field
- The Heart of the World: A Journey to Tibet's Lost Paradise
- The Illustrated Wise Words and Country Ways
- The Master Mind of Mars and A Fighting Man of Mars
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The World Is Flat
- The Great Book of Guns: An Illustrated History of Military, Sporting, and Antique Firearms
- Regional & Urban Economics I: Harwood Fundamentals of Applied Economics
- Population: An Introduction to Concepts and Issues
- Stop Smoking in One Hour: Play the CD... Just Once... and Never Smoke Again!
- The Light in the Forest
- Posttranslational Modification of Proteins: Expanding Nature's Inventory
- Colorado Study Manual for Life and Accident and Health Insurance
- Personal Portfolio Management: Fundamentals and Strategies
- Demography and Retirement: The Twenty-First Century
Sand County Almanac (Outdoor Essays & Reflections)
The Sense of Wonder
Our Stolen Future: How We Are Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence and Survival-- A Scienti
The Edge of the Sea
A Sand County Almanac
