Young Rachel Carson reading to her dog, Candy.
Grizwold, Eliza, The New York Times
Rachel's Life
In the 1940s, Carson worked at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, then called the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. Carson wrote and oversaw publications about the conservation work the bureau was doing. A biologist by training and a writer by nature, Rachel’s passion was the sea, and after three years of writing she published her first book, Under the Sea Wind. The book never even sold 2,000 copies.
In WWII, submarine warfare became important for the first time. Suddenly, people were very interested in what happened beneath the sea, and Carson wanted to showcase this intricate parallel universe.. After years of work, she wrote The Sea Around Us. In 1951, it became a bestseller, and Under the Sea Wind would follow. Rachel Carson became one of the rare authors to have two books on the New York Times bestseller list. Carson’s third book was an Atlantic shore guide, titled The Edge of the Sea, which also became a bestseller.
Carson doing research for the Bureau of Fisheries.
Rachel Carson Council
Carson, James Cummins Bookseller
EBay
Carson, the Bookseller's Library
Pesticides and Nuclear Warfare
DDT molecule diagram and full name.
UN Environment Programme
While Carson worked at the Fish and Wildlife Service, the organization did a study on DDT and its effects on humans and the environment. They very quickly found that DDT is toxic to both humans and animals if ingested. This information was published in a niche magazine for scientific experts. Carson realized that the public needed to know, and she had the tools to do it.
The Cold War began when the Soviet Union produced a successful test of an atomic bomb, spurring the nuclear era. Science could now wage war. Society’s questioning of science’s power was sparked when several Americans died of radiation poisoning. Carson saw this process as a contamination of the earth.
Citizens and military watch the detonation of an atomic bomb.
Chapters, THE AMERICAN YAWP