UMass Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press

Priscilla Coit Murphy

The story of a book that provoked a major public controversy

In 1962 the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring sparked widespread public debate on the hazards of pesticide abuse for humans and their environment. Within a year, the controversy had spread throughout print and broadcast media. Despite its preliminary appearance in a magazine, Silent Spring reached the full media system and made its lasting impression in the form of a book. With clarity and precision, Priscilla Coit Murphy explores how a newsmaking book enabled a single voice of warning to gain the attention of the entire country, and beyond.

Murphy's exploration follows the story of the book and the controversy, beginning with the author's mission and the response of her publishers, Houghton Mifflin and the New Yorker. Focus then turns to Carson's opponents and their counter campaign, including their efforts to undermine, delay, or stop publication altogether.

Moving next to the media, Murphy describes how, beyond providing a forum for the debate, they became active participants in it. Finally, she examines the general public's perceptions and expectations regarding the book, the debate, and the media.

Shedding new light on the dynamic between newsmaking books, the media, and the public, Murphy raises a host of broader questions about the place of dissenting books in American culture, past, present, and future.

"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

"Discusses the entire process of envisioning, researching, writing, publishing, marketing, distributing, disseminating, and defending Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. . . . Murphy's interesting, well-written account goes behind the many pro- and anti- Carson myths to help explain how Silent Spring had its monumental impact as an earth-shaking, movement-spawning book. . . . Murphy's treatment of a topic that still engenders passion and anger is commendably evenhanded."

Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

"This book would make 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

"There is an eerie feeling that Murphy is actually writing about a current event—Silent Spring is still apropos, corporate America remains a formidable foe against regulatory legislation, and the government is still selective in its acceptance of science."

Library Journal

"The author is to be commended for producing such a thoroughly readable, enjoyable and scholarly work."

Rachel Carson Council

Priscilla Coit Murphy is an independent scholar who lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

American Studies / Book History / Environmental Studies
288 pp., 15 illus.
$22.95s paper, ISBN 978-1-55849-582-1
April 2007

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

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