Becoming Rachel Carson

Becoming Rachel Carson describes how Rachel Carson, a small, shy woman from a poor farm in Pennsylvania rose to fame, and, for her detractors, to notoriety -- intriguing, even obsessing, academics, experts, biographers, media producers, and environmentalists for decades. How did a girl who roamed the fields and woods near her home, counted birds and animals as her friends, and read aloud to her dog, become Rachel Carson - a name synonymous with the best of boldness, bravery and advocacy on behalf of people and the planet? What are the sources of her lyrical and luminous prose, her imagination and empathy, her cutting edge science, her fearless stands on controversial issues, even her profound influence on policy during the Kennedy years and after? Throughout her career, how did Rachel Carson manage to work in the face of rejection and ceaseless personal and political attacks from critics and corporations? And, she wrote, testified, traveled, and knit together a new environmental movement - one concerned with human beings and our health, well-being, and justice, as well as the peregrines, pelicans, osprey, and eagles who share and depend upon the same endangered ecosystems as homo sapiens. Becoming Rachel Carson also details the work of the Rachel Carson Council which Carson founded to carry on her work and the numerous environmental organizations and individuals who carry out her legacy today.