Rachel Carson—A Biography

Few people have had as great an impact on the modern environmental movement as has the great writer and scientist Rachel Carson. This readable and up-to-date biography traces the famous environmentalist's development as a writer from earliest childhood through the publication of her best-known work Silent Spring (1962). Although Carson is now remembered almost exclusively for Silent Spring, which exposed the dangers of pesticides, this book was preceded by three best-sellers about the ocean environment: Under the Sea-Wind (1941), The Edge of the Sea (1955), and The Sea Around Us (1951) which catapulted her to fame. In Rachel Carson: A Biography, Carson emerges as a talented scientist and exceptional writer who was able to share her "sense of wonder" about nature with both scientists and the general public.

ARLENE QUARATIELLO is a freelance writer and the author of The College Student's Research Companion. She has worked as an academic reference librarian at Merrimack College and Emerson College.