Silent Spring
Nonfiction work
By: Rachel Carson
Date: 1962
Source: Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1962, 5–9
About the Author: Rachel Louise Carson (1907–1964) was born in Springdale, Pennsylvania, and earned an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University in 1932. The previous year she had begun teaching at the University of Maryland. From 1929 to 1936 she also taught summer school at Johns Hopkins. In 1936, she joined the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries as an aquatic biologist.
Introduction
Since the advent of agriculture ten thousand years ago, farmers have battled insects. This struggle became acute in the twentieth century, when rising production slashed food prices. Because farmers lived on such narrow profit margins, protecting their crops from insects meant the difference between survival and bankruptcy.
In this battle, farmers depended upon...
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1960's Science and Technology Primary Sources
The 1960's: Primary Sources
