Silent Spring. by Carson, Rachel - 1962

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1962. First edition of Carson's landmark work. Octavo, original green cloth. Signed by Rachel Carson on the half-title page. Near fine in a very good price-clipped dust jacket with some light rubbing to the extremities. Drawings by Lois and Louis Darling. \ In the late 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation, especially environmental problems that she believed were caused by synthetic pesticides. The result was Silent Spring, which brought environmental concerns to the American public. "Her book is a cry to the reading public to help curb private and public programs which by use of poisons will end by destroying life on earth. ... Miss Carson, with the fervor of an Ezekiel, is trying to save nature and mankind" (The New York Times). 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" (Mattheissen, Time). Named by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 best and most influential non-fiction books since 1923 and by Modern Library as one of the 100 greatest non-fiction books of the twentieth century. In 2006, it was named one of the 25 greatest science books of all time by the editors of Discover Magazine.