Silent Spring
Authors: Rachel Carson
Fortieth Anniversary Edition
Rachel Carson
Table of Contents
4. Surface Waters and Underground Seas
10. Indiscriminately from the Skies
11. Beyond the Dreams of the Borgias
16. The Rumblings of an Avalanche
 
Introduction by Linda Lear
Afterword by
Edward O. Wilson
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Boston New York
To Albert Schweitzer
who said
"Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall.
He will end by destroying the earth."
First Mariner Books edition 2002
Copyright © 1962 by Rachel L. Carson
Copyright © renewed 1990 by Roger Christie
Introduction copyright © 2002 by Linda Lear
Afterword copyright © 2002 by Edward O. Wilson
All rights reserved
For information about permission to reproduce selections from
this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company,
215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York, 10003.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN
0-618-25305-x
ISBN
0-618-24906-0 (pbk.)
Drawings by Lois and Louis Darling
Portions of this book were first published as a series of
articles in
The New Yorker.
Printed in the United States of America
DOC 10 19 18 17 16
The sedge is wither'd from the lake, And no birds sing.
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I am pessimistic about the human race because it is too ingenious for its own good. Our approach to nature is to beat it into submission. We would stand a better chance of survival if we accommodated ourselves to this planet and viewed it appreciatively instead of skeptically and dictatorially.
Author's NoteE. B. W
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to burden the text with footnotes but I realize that many of my readers will wish to pursue some of the subjects discussed. I have therefore included a list of my principal sources of information, arranged by chapter and page, in an appendix which will be found at the back of the book.
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Acknowledgments
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Introduction by Linda Lear
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Afterword by Edward O. Wilson
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Index
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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. 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. G. Bartholomew, M.D., 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, M.D., of Westport, Connecticut, C. J. Briejèr of the Plant Protection Service in Holland, Clarence Cottam of the Rob and Bessie Welder Wildlife Foundation, George Crile, Jr., M.D., of the Cleveland Clinic, Frank Egler of Norfolk, Connecticut, Malcolm M. Hargraves, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic, W. C. Hueper, M.D., of the National Cancer Institute, C. J. Kerswill of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Olaus Murie of the Wilderness Society, A. D. Pickett of the Canada Department of Agriculture, Thomas G. Scott of the Illinois Natural History Survey, Charence Tarzwell of the Taft Sanitary Engineering Center, and George J. Wallace of Michigan State University.