In the spring of 1962, the New Yorker published Rachel Carson’s anti-pesticide manifesto, Silent Spring, in three installments. Carson’s message quickly transcended the magazine’s readership, eliciting a national response that would eventually lead to a federal ban on DDT for agricultural use and the creation of the EPA. In honor of Carson’s legacy and Women’s History Month, cartoonist David Gessner illustrates the pioneering writer’s final years as she fought for the environment and for her life. (Based on Linda Lear’s biography, Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature.)
David Gessner is the author of 11 books, including Leave It As It Is: A Journey Through Theodore Roosevelt’s American Wilderness, due out August, 2020. He is chair of the Department of Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington.
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- Keywords:
- environmental justice
- EPA
- women
- science