BOOKS: POET OF THE TIDE POOLS

UNVEILING THE LIFE AND LONGINGS OF RACHEL CARSON

Very few books change the course of history: Karl Marx's Das Kapital, Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species and Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations come to mind. And then there was Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. Published in 1962, it embedded a message about the folly of trying to conquer nature within an exposition about the dangers of pesticides to animal and human life. Despite the formidable opposition of the chemical industry, which ridiculed Carson as an overly emotional woman unqualified to judge the health effects of compounds like DDT, her thorough research and exquisite ability to turn dry science into...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!