Courage for the Earth: Writers, Scientists, and Activists Celebrate the Life and Writing of Rachel Carson

Brief Description: For environmentally critical times, Courage for the Earth is a centennial appreciation of Rachel Carson's brave life and transformative writing Rachel Carson's lyrical, popular books about the sea, including her best-selling The Sea Around Us, set a standard for nature writing. By the late 1950s, Carson was the most respected science writer in America. She completed Silent Spring (1962) against formidable personal odds, and with it shaped a powerful social movement that has altered the course of history. In Silent Spring, Carson asserted that "the right of the citizen to be secure in his own home against the intrusion of poisons applied by other persons" must surely be a basic human right. She was the first to challenge the moral vacuity of a government that refused to take responsibility for or to acknowledge evidence of environmental damage. In this volume, today's foremost scientists and writers give compelling evidence that Carson's transformative insights -- her courage for the earth -- are giving a new generation of activists the inspiration they need to move consumers, industry, and government to action. Contributors include John Elder, Al Gore, John Hay, Freeman House, Linda Lear, Robert Michael Pyle, Janisse Ray, Sandra Steingraber, Terry Tempest Williams, and E. O. WilsonTable of Contents: Contents 1 Peter Matthiessen Introduction 19 Linda Lear Love, Fear, and Witnessing 27 Edward O. Wilson On Silent Spring 37 Jim Lynch Rachel Carson in The Highest Tide 49 Sandra Steingraber Silent Spring: A Father-Daughter Dance 63 Al Gore Rachel Carson and Silent Spring 79 John Elder Withered Sedge and Yellow Wood: Poetry in Silent Spring 97 John Hay A Long View of Rachel Carson 109 Janisse Ray Changing Sex 129 Terry Tempest Williams The Moral Courage of Rachel Carson 147 Freeman House Silent Future: Rachel Carson and the Creeping Apocalypse 165 Robert Michael Pyle Always a Naturalist 183 Linda Lear Remembrance of Life 199 Contributors 203 Rachel Carson BibliographyPublisher Marketing: Courage for the Earth is a centennial appreciation--for environmentally critical times--of Rachel Carson's brave life and transformative writing, from renowned authors, activists, and scientists. Review Citations:

Library Journal 04/15/2007 pg. 114 (EAN 9780618872763, Paperback)

Booklist 04/15/2007 pg. 11 (EAN 9780618872763, Paperback)

Contributor Bio:  Matthiessen, Peter Winner of the National Book Award and the American Book Award, Peter Matthiessen is the author of over fifteen books of fiction and nonfiction, including "The Snow Leopard " (1978), "At Play in the Fields of the Lord" (1965), "Far Tortuga" (1975), "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse" (1992), and "Bone by Bone" (1999). Ilan Stavans teaches at Amherst College. He is the author of "The Hispanic Condition" (1995), "Art and Anger" (1996), and "The Riddle of Cantinflas" (1998), and editor of "The Oxford Book of Latin American Essays" (1997).