Rarely does a single book alter the course of history but Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring did just that. In post-war America, a new agricultural revolution saw science and industry capitalize on chemical breakthroughs by turning their attention to nature. However, as the world watched in wonder as pests and blights were obliterated by pesticide programs, one biologist charted the unseen horror of deadly chemicals entering the food chain and affecting flora, fauna and humans. One of the most influential books of the 20th century, Silent Spring alerted people to this environmental catastrophe, questioning our right to control nature and ultimately leading to a social revolution and legislation change. Introduced by novelist and environmental activist Margaret Atwood, this beautiful new edition includes an afterword by biologist and environmentalist Edward O. Wilson. Illustrations by artist Teagan White are complemented by a selection of arresting photographs from the Documerica archive, created to document areas of environmental concern in 1970s America. The ecological theme continues to the endpapers and woodgrain-effect slipcase, which complete a book that is perhaps even more important today than when first published.
A passionate ecological protest, grounded in painstaking scientific research, Silent Spring was a grim wake-up call when it was published in 1962. While the chemical industry, the Forest Service and farmers hailed DDT and its chemical cousins as miracle controls for pests and diseases, spraying swathes of farmland, forest and residential areas, they failed to appreciate or acknowledge the devastating repercussions. In order to eradicate gnats in Clear Lake, California, mosquitoes in the Florida swamplands, fire ants in arable fields, cattle ticks and garden grubs, the surrounding ecology was sacrificed. Where the ‘rain of death’ didn’t directly poison other insects, birds, fish, meadows and grasslands, it entered the food chain, resulting in sickness and death among larger wild animals, pets and humans. Carson’s shattering revelations ultimately led to a ban on DDT and the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency but she was vilified by the chemical industry in the process, with much backlash focusing on her gender. Almost sixty years later, as the world struggles with the plastic catastrophe, it is impossible to overstate the legacy of Carson’s work and the importance of sharing it.
Teagan White is an artist and naturalist whose delicate work illuminates Carson’s eloquent depictions of the natural world in turmoil. Five full-page illustrations draw attention to important messages in the narrative, while the binding design is both beautiful and prophetic. A selection of color photographs, curated from the Documerica archive, complements case studies in the book. A collection of over 20,000 images documenting areas of environmental concern in America in the early 1970s, the archive is a valuable snapshot of ecological history. Margaret Atwood’s astonishing introduction was first published in the Guardian to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Silent Spring's publication. ‘Rachel Carson is a saint’ writes Atwood, as she addresses the often gender-specific backlash that Carson faced on publication. An afterword by the Pulitzer Prize-winning scientist and author of The Diversity of Life, Edward O. Wilson, completes this outstanding edition. Writing of Carson’s legacy and the huge impact her work had on education and action, Wilson also reminds us that, ‘the battle Rachel Carson helped to lead on behalf of the environment is far from won’.
Bound in blocked buckram
Set in Legitima
328 pages
Printed in black and metallic bronze throughout, including 5 full-page 2-colour illustrations
8 pages of colour photographs
Tree ring textured endpapers
Woodgrain textured slipcase
9½˝ x 6¼˝
