Rachel Carson : Legacy and Challenge

by Sideris, Lisa H.; Moore, Kathleen Dean

• ISBN13: 9780791474716
• ISBN10: 0791474712
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-05-08
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Summary

Long before Rachel Carson would become synonymous with environmental activism, she was a nature and science writer, penning The Sense of Wonder for children, and three books about the ocean and its inhabitants-including the bestselling The Sea around Us. Based solidly on science and written in beautiful prose, Carson's work issued a practical and moral challenge to her readers: Can we find a way to live on earth with care and respect? In Rachel Carson, the first book to offer a sustained treatment of her work prior to Silent Spring, editors Lisa H. Sideris and Kathleen Dean Moore bring together seventeen writers, activists, and scholars from a range of disciplines to uncover the many sides of Rachel Carson. Exposing her enthusiasm for the natural world and the depth of her writings, the contributors examine her books, speeches, essays, and the letters she wrote as she prepared to die. A testament to Carson's continued influence on environmental thought, this volume is for everyone who cares about finding ways to live sustainably on earth. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
A Legacy of Activism and Advocacy
One Patriot	p. 16
Rachel Carson's Scientific and Ocean Legacies	p. 29
Rachel Carson and George J. Wallace: Why Public Environmental Scientists Should Be Advocates for Nature	p. 41
Ethics on Land and at Sea
Rachel Carson's Environmental Ethics	p. 60
Thinking Like a Mackerel: Rachel Carson's Under the Sea-Wind as a Source for a Trans-Ecotonal Sea Ethic	p. 79
The Conceptual Foundations of Rachel Carson's Sea Ethic	p. 94
Rachel Carson's The Sea Around Us, Ocean-Centrism, and a Nascent Ocean Ethic	p. 118
Reflections on Gender and Science
The Ecological Body: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and Breast Cancer	p. 136
Science and Spirit: Struggles of the Early Rachel Carson	p. 149
"Silence, Miss Carson!": Science, Gender, and the Reception of Silent Spring	p. 168
An Ongoing Toxic Discourse
After Silent Spring: Ecological Effects of Pesticides on Public Health and on Birds and Other Organisms	p. 190
Contested Icons: Rachel Carson and DDT	p. 194
In Her Footsteps	p. 215
Living Downstream of Silent Spring	p. 220
A Legacy of Wonder
The Secular and Religious Sources of Rachel Carson's Sense of Wonder	p. 232
How to Value a Flower: Locating Beauty in Toxic Landscapes	p. 251
The Truth of the Barnacles: Rachel Carson and the Moral Significance of Wonder	p. 267
Contributors	p. 281
Index	p. 283
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.