Rachel Carson Research Paper

With every action, there is an opposite but equal reaction, and Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring was no different. Carson foretold of what was going to happen when her book was released, and she was correct in her assessment. Carson’s book stood out against the common theme of the day of do whatever you want to the environment, and it is this reason that it drew so many critics when it was published. Attacks were made for the content of her book, attacks on her personally, and attacks on legislation that happened as a result of her book. Rachel Carson knew that this book must be released, as she became the voice of species and the planet that could not defend itself. Carson was not greeted with open arms with her book when it was released,

When Carson wrote her book, she knew that it was going to draw criticism from the chemical companies. To prepare for this, she had the book checked out, her facts checked, and made sure that all her T’s were crossed and her I’s dotted so to speak. America’s Story summed up the attacks on her, “They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking her personally and trying to discredit her claims. She was called a bird lover, a cat lover, a fish lover, a priestess of nature, as well as a hysterical woman and a poor scientist” (America’s Story, n.d.). Carson was criticized for basically choosing plants and animals over humans. One chemical company even wrote a book about what life would be like if there were no pesticides in the world (America’s Story, n.d.). These companies knew that they could not discredit the information in her book with scientific evidence so they tried the next best thing, by discrediting her as an author and scientist. This however, was not enough to destroy what Carson had worked for, as her book Silent Spring eventually led to the development of