Rachel Carson : witness for nature / Linda Lear.

ISBN: 0805034277
ISBN: 9780805034271
ISBN: 0805034285
ISBN: 9780805034288
Physical Description: xviii, 634 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: New York : H. Holt, 1997.

Lear, Linda J., 1940- (Author).

Summary:

By drawing on previously unavailable sources and on interviews with those who knew her, Linda Lear gives a compelling portrait of this heroic woman, illuminating the origin of her connection with nature and of her determination to save what she loved. Lear reveals the unexpected influence of Carson's early experience with industrial pollution and examines her life-changing encounter with the possibility of global extinction in the frightening days of the early Cold War. The book follows Carson's efforts to become a marine biologist at a time when women were unwelcome in the academic community. It shows how her connections with nature were confirmed and strengthened through her work as a government scientist and editor, where her views about the potential dangers of synthetic chemical pesticides evolved. By the late 1950s, Carson had transformed colorless government research into three brilliant, popular books about the sea, including The Sea Around Us, and had become the most respected science writer in America. Rachel Carson challenged the culture of her time and, in the process, shaped a powerful social movement that altered the course of American history.

Contents:

Wild creatures are my friends
The vision splendid
The decision for science
Something to write about
Just to live by writing
Return to the sea
Such a comfort to me
A subject very close to my heart
Kin this be me?
An Alice in Wonderland character
Nothing lives to itself
Between the tide lines
One must dream greatly
I shall rant a little, too
The red queen
If I live to be 90
A solemn obligation
Rumblings of an avalanche
I shall remember the monarchs.