Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was born on a family farm near Springdale, Pennsylvania. She earned a master's in zoology at Johns Hopkins before taking a job with the
U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. She published
Under the Sea-Wind (1941),
The Sea Around Us (1951, winner of a National Book Award), and
The Edge of the Sea (1955).
Silent Spring (1962), her expose of the disastrous ecological effects of pesticide use, was an international bestseller. A research biologist and cancer survivor,
Sandra Steingraber was inspired to activism by
Silent Spring, becoming one of America's leading environmental writers and antipollution advocates. Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Ithaca College, her books include
Living Downstream: An Ecologist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment (1997),
Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood (2001), and
Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis (2011).
