Rachel Carson's Silent Spring alerted a large audience to the environmental and human dangers of indiscriminate use of pesticides, spurring revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water. This Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by Lord Shackleton, a preface by World Wildlife Fund founder Julian Huxley, and an afterword by Carson's biographer Linda Lear.Now recognized as one of the most influential books of the twentieth century, Silent Spring exposed the destruction of wildlife through the widespread use of pesticides. Despite condemnation in the press and heavy-handed attempts by the chemical industry to ban the book, Rachel Carson succeeded in creating a new public awareness of the environment which led to changes in government and inspired the ecological movement.

환경/생태학 분야의 고전이며 20세기에 가장 큰 영향력을 끼친 책 중의 하나. TIME지가 뽑은 20세기를 변화시킨 100인 가운데 한 사람인 저자. 아무도 환경문제에 관심을 가지지 않던 40년전에 저자 레이첼 카슨은 봄이 왔는데도 꽃이 피지 않고 새가 울지 않는 미래가 올 수 있다고 일깨웠다. 생태계의 파괴와 환경 재앙에 대한 경종을 울려 준 고전.