UMass Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press

Priscilla Coit Murphy

How a single book provoked a major public controversy

In 1962 the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring sparked widespread public debate on the issue of pesticide abuse and environmental degradation. The discussion permeated the entire print and electronic media system of mid-twentieth century America. Although Carson's text was serialized in the New Yorker, it made a significant difference that it was also published as a book. With clarity and precision, Priscilla Coit Murphy explores the importance of the book form for the author, her editors and publishers, her detractors, the media, and the public at large.

Murphy reviews the publishing history of the Houghton Mifflin edition and the prior New Yorker serialization, describing Carson's approach to her project as well as the views and expectations of her editors. She also documents the response of opponents to Carson's message, notably the powerful chemical industry, including efforts to undermine, delay, or stop publication altogether.

Murphy then investigates the media's role, showing that it went well beyond providing a forum for debate. In addition, she analyzes the perceptions and expectations of the public at large regarding the book, the debate, and the media. By probing all of these perspectives, Murphy sheds new light on the dynamic between newsmaking books, the media, and the public. In the process, she addresses a host of broader questions about the place of books in American culture, past, present, and future.

"In this in-depth study of a best-selling and influential book, Murphy makes an extremely important contribution to the history of print culture. . . . Her book is a quick read and not at all ponderous, so I recommend it not only to scholars in book history and mass communications, but also to anyone interested in the influence of the media and in Silent Spring itself. It will be a marvelous addition to mass communications and book history classes."

Beth Luey, author of Handbook for Academic Authors

"Combines a marvelous blend of good detective work and rounding up of the correct suspects. There is, to my mind, a novel combination of literatures (publishing history, media effects, social movement research) that tells a very compelling story. Murphy recreates the time period nicely and captures the relationship between Carson and The New Yorker and her Houghton Mifflin editor beautifully. . . . I can think of very few comparable studies of a work of nonfiction."

Walter W. Powell, coauthor of Books:
The Culture and Commerce of Publishing

"A highly readable and often illuminating history of the writing and aftermath of Rachel Carson's masterpiece affirms the unique place of the book as an agent of change, and raises timely questions about science, the media, and the right to know."

Orion Journal

"Silent Spring's author intended its information to be useful not only to ordinary people but also to those in authority. . . . The author is to be commended for producing such a thoroughly readable, enjoyable and scholarly work."

The Rachel Carson Council

"This book would make for an ideal reading choice for any public relations case study or basic reporting class. . . . Murphy's analysis of Carson's work and how the public reacted provides great insight into the power of well-researched and well-written journalism in book form."

The Carolina Communicator

	PRISCILLA COIT MURPHY is an independent scholar who lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
© Lance Richardson

American Studies / Media Studies / Environmental Studies
288 pp., 15 illus.
$34.95s cloth, ISBN 978-1-55849-476-3
May 2005

A volume in the series Studies in Print Culture and the History of the Book

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