Today In History: Silent Spring Is Published

There was a strange stillness. The birds, for example -- where had they gone? Many people spoke of them, puzzled and disturbed. The feeding stations in the backyards were deserted. The few birds anywhere were moribund; they trembled violently and could not fly. It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens, and scores of other bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh.

-- Rachel Carson, Chaper 1, "A Fable for Tomorrow",  p. 2, Silent Spring

On September 27th, 1962,  Rachel Carson's work, Silent Spring, was published to critical acclaim.  Her book expounded upon the dangers of pesticides, notably DDT, to the environment. Used by soldiers in the Second World War to combat malaria, typhus, and the other insect-borne human diseases, DDT was believed by Rachel Carson, an American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist, to be detrimental to birds, fish, the agricultural industry, and humans in general. Her ground-breaking book, considered the catalyst for the environmental science movement, challenged the chemical industry and belief that humans could control nature  through modern science.  It interestingly starts with a fable about a town that did not actually exist, but "might easily have a thousand counterparts in America or elsewhere in the world."

Some ten years later, Carson's work led to the banning  by the Environmental Protection Agency of the general use of DDT, as the government increased restrictions on DDT and opted for alternative pesticides with a program of instruction to farmers.  DDT was banned across the world in 2004, though it is still used in certain African countries to fight disease bearing insects, like mosquitoes, and it continues to reside in soil for periods of time until it is broken down by the sun.

The following articles are drawn from Proquest Historical Newspapers, which informs and inspires classroom teaching and learning.

• Muller, H. J. (1962, Sep 23). Are We Too Ingenious for Our Own Good? In Our Battle Against Bugs Are We Firing Blind. New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962)
• The Not-So "Silent Spring". (1962, Sep 23). New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962) 
• Powers, I. (1963, Mar 06). 'Silent Spring' Spurs 2 Public Discussions. Chicago Tribune (1963-1996) 
• Report on 'Silent Spring'. (1965, Apr 25). Chicago Tribune (1963-1996) 
• Sterling, C. (1971, Dec 26). The Environment: Out of the DDT Fog, Some Truths Emerge. Boston Globe (1960-) 
• DeWan, G. (1982, May 27). Pages That Turned America's History: It Happens Rarely, But It Happens -- a Book and a Moment Collide With a Power That Makes History.  Newsday (1940-) 
• How Rachel Carson Came to Write 'Silent Spring'. (1987, Jul 20). The Christian Science Monitor (1908-) 
• Aeppel, T.   (1987, Jul 20). Echoes from the 'Silent Spring': 'Safe' Pesticides Polluting Environment. The Christian Science Monitor (1908-) 
• Hynes, H. P. (1992, Sep 10). Unfinished Business: 'Silent Spring': On the 30th Anniversary of Rachel Carson's Indictment of DDT, Pesticides Still Threaten Human Life. Los Angeles Times (1923-1995) 
• See, C. (1998, Dec 11). Rachel Carson: A Voice in the Wilderness. The Washington Post (1974-) 

Tips:

• Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1962.  Stacks ; SB959 .C3 1962.
• Graham, Frank. Since Silent Spring. Boston: Houghton-Miflin, 1970.  Stacks ; QH75 .G68.
• Lawlor, Laurie. Rachel Carson and Her Book That Changed the World. First edition. New York: Holiday House, 2012.  Curriculum ; QH31.C33 L39 2012.
• Lytle, Mark H. The Gentle Subversive : Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the Rise of the Environmental Movement. 1st ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.  e-book.  Stacks ; QH31.C33 L98 2007.
• Montrie, Chad. A People’s History of Environmentalism in the United States. 1st ed. London ; Continuum, 2011. e-book.
• Musil, Robert K. Rachel Carson and Her Sisters : Extraordinary Women Who Have Shaped America’s Environment. 1st ed. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2014. e-book.
• Robin, Libby, Sverker Sörlin, and Paul Warde. The Future of Nature : Documents of Global Change. 1st ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013.  e-book.
• Seager, Joni. Carson’s Silent Spring : A Reader’s Guide. London ; Bloomsbury Academic, 2014. e-book.

Images:

• Environmental Science, Courtesy of Canva.
• Poster Image: Book Cover for Silent Spring.