Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson

by Rachel Carson

When Rachel Carson died of cancer in 1964, her four books, including the environmental classic Silent Spring, had made her one of the most famous people in America. This trove of previously uncollected writings is a priceless addition to our knowledge of Rachel Carson, her affinity with the natural world, and her life.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Science, Environment, Essays, Ecology, Wildlife

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose book Silent Spring and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement.

Carson began her career as an aquatic biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and became a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. Her widely praised 1951 bestseller The Sea Around Us won her a U.S. National Book Award, recognition as a gifted writer, and financial security. Her next book, The Edge of the Sea, and the reissued version of her first book, Under the Sea Wind, were also bestsellers. This sea trilogy explores the whole of ocean life from the shores to the depths.

Late in the 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation, especially environmental problems that she believed were caused by synthetic pesticides. The result was Silent Spring (1962), which brought environmental concerns to an unprecedented share of the American people. Although Silent Spring was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, it spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy, which led to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides, and it inspired a grassroots environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

A variety of groups ranging from government institutions to environmental and conservation organizations to scholarly societies have celebrated Carson's life and work since her death. Perhaps most significantly, on June 9, 1980, Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. A 17¢ Great Americans series postage stamp was issued in her honor the following year; several other countries have since issued Carson postage as well.

Carson's birthplace and childhood home in Springdale, Pennsylvania — now known as the Rachel Carson Homestead—became a National Register of Historic Places site, and the nonprofit Rachel Carson Homestead Association was created in 1975 to manage it. Her home in Colesville, Maryland where she wrote Silent Spring was named a National Historic Landmark in 1991. Near Pittsburgh, a 35.7 miles (57 km) hiking trail, maintained by the Rachel Carson Trails Conservancy, was dedicated to Carson in 1975. A Pittsburgh bridge was also renamed in Carson's honor as the Rachel Carson Bridge. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection State Office Building in Harrisburg is named in her honor. Elementary schools in Gaithersburg, Montgomery County, Maryland, Sammamish, Washington and San Jose, California were named in her honor, as were middle schools in Beaverton, Oregon and Herndon, Virginia (Rachel Carson Middle School), and a high school in Brooklyn, New York.

Between 1964 and 1990, 650 acres (3 km2) near Brookeville in Montgomery County, Maryland were acquired and set aside as the Rachel Carson Conservation Park, administered by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. In 1969, the Coastal Maine National Wildlife Refuge became the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge; expansions will bring the size of the refuge to about 9,125 acres (37 km2). In 1985, North Carolina renamed one of its estuarine reserves in honor of Carson, in Beaufort.

Carson is also a frequent namesake for prizes awarded by philanthropic, educational and scholarly institutions. The Rachel Carson Prize, founded in Stavanger, Norway in 1991, is awarded to women who have made a contribution in the field of environmental protection. The American Society for Environmental History has awarded the Rachel Carson Prize for Best Dissertation since 1993. Since 1998, the Society for Social Studies of Science has awarded an annual Rachel Carson Book Prize for "a book length work of social or political relevance in the area of science and technology studies."

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_C...

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Making America Great Again

From “Mr. Day’s Dismissal”: A Letter to the Editor of the Washington Post, April 22, 1953.

In 1952 Republicans won the White House and immediately began dismantling environmental protections in favor of big business concerns. Day was fired as Secretary of the Interior and replaced by a political appointee with no experience in environmental work. I know this is shocking to read, because no current administration would do something this stupid with the natural world currently in even greater peril, but see excerpts from what Rachel Carson wrote then. It feels like a sibling to Orwell’s 1984:

. . . the way is being cleared for a raid upon our natural resources that is without parallel within the present century.

The real wealth of the Nation lies in the resources of the earth — soil, water, forests, minerals, and wildlife. To utilize them for present needs while insuring their preservation for future generations requires a delicately balanced and continuing program, based on the most extensive research. Their administration is not properly, and cannot be, a matter of politics.

By long tradition, the agencies responsible for these resources have been directed by men of professional stature and experience, who have understood, respected, and been guided by the findings of their scientists. . . .

These actions within the Interior Department fall into place beside the proposed giveaway of our offshore oil reserves and the threatened invasion of national parks, forests and other public lands.
For many years public-spirited citizens throughout the country have been working for the conservation of the natural resources, realizing their vital importance to the Nation. Apparently their hard-won progress is to be wiped out, as a politically minded Administration returns us to the dark ages of unrestrained exploitation and destruction.

It is one of the ironies of our times that, while concentrating on the defense of our country against enemies from without, we should be so heedless of those who would destroy it from within.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rachel Carson is now rightly considered to be one of the environmental thinkers and writers of the twentieth century. Her seminal work, Silent Spring was the book that told the public of the scandal behind pesticide pollution and the way that the companies who sold the products used disinformation to downplay just how dangerous they were. More worrying was the indifference of public officials who took the chemical companies ‘evidence’ as truth.

The clouds are as old as the Earth itself – as much a part of our world as land or sea
They are the writing of the wind on the sky.

But she wrote lots more than just that book and this slim volume is a collection of her previously unpublished work, essays, field journals, speeches, articles and letters. It is an interesting read, full of well-informed arguments and criticism of those that were still ignoring the evidence that indiscriminate use of toxic chemicals was having on the wild environment. There is more in here than that. Some of the essays showed just how poetic she could be in her writing, I thought she was particularly good when writing about the sea and shoreline.

Contrary to the beliefs that seem to often guide our actions, man does not live apart from the world; he lives in the midst of a complex dynamic interplay of physical, chemical and biological forces, and between himself and this environment there are continuing, never-ending interactions

I must admit that I have never read Silent Spring, so this is the first book of hers that I have read. Even though some of the articles and essays are dated and the world has changed in better and worse ways since a lot of these were written, some of the points that she is making are sadly still valid today. I liked her writing style, she has a way of making her point that leaves the reader very clear on her intentions and passion.

[T.D. Whittle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a rather random collection of leftover pieces, so if you are a Carson completist, it might be worth your time. I am not especially interested in reading every speech or letter a writer makes, and found much of this a bit boring and repetitive since I'm already familiar with Carson and her work. Brilliant woman, brilliant writer, but a posthumous collection of odd bits that may or may not be of interest to the general reader.

[Jennifer Chin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look at the forces that shaped Carson's life before she wrote Silent Spring, and a great portrait into some of her deeper passions and ambitions.

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-chosen collection of writings of Rachel Carson, spanning her career and offering insight into her development as an ecologist, writer, and advocate. The selections include articles, personal letters, book prefaces, public speeches, and excerpts from Carson's field notebooks. Many of the pieces themselves are slightly formal in style - the descriptions of natural habitats are lyric; virtually all offer incisive observations about the natural world. Editor Linda Lear, who has published a biography of Carson (Witness for Nature), prefaces each selection with an explanatory note; these are thoughtful and nuanced, and place the collected passages in their historic and biographical contexts. It's amazing and somewhat distressing to realize how many of the warnings Carson offered (about the destruction of habitats, the indiscriminate release of man-made chemicals into the environment, and the danger of relying on industries to fund or disclose research into the impacts of their products) remain as sharply relevant now as when she wrote or said them 50+ years ago.

[Tanwi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down one of the best books I have read in my entire life. Truly Rachel Carson was one of the best writers to grace the planet… I was moved to tears several times while reading. The organization of work in this book is also fantastic. Her writing is just so unbelievably lyrical and poetic and her ideas were so ahead of their time that it’s almost painful to think about, all these years later, how poorly we’ve grasped what she so plainly understood all along. Once again I am reminded how she does not receive due credit for the sheer impact she has had on environmental activism and ecological study.

[Rift Vegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book! My favorite parts were... Her field notes: haha funny story about a little dog! "The Real World Around Us": just wow. "Clouds": something totally different. And I was happily surprised by "Preface to Animal Machines": factory farming was just beginning in Europe, and Rachel Carson was concerned about animal welfare.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of Rachel Carson’s various uncollected works. Lost Woods is sprinkled with Carson’s essays, letters, speeches, and articles. I loved reading this. There were so many beautiful snippets that wowed me in just a few paragraphs. Her nature writing never fails to make me smile. The way Carson writes about nature makes me want to write about nature. A great book to pick up, flip through, and slowly enjoy. I especially enjoyed Undersea, Road of Hawks, and A Fable for Tomorrow. 🌲🌊🪶

(Thank you for letting me borrow this book Audrey)

[Skylinebal]

Wonderfully informative about a deep thinker and compassionate leader.

[Sara Takacs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Get acquainted or re-acquainted with Rachel Carson. Her prose is beautiful and her plea to take care of our planet, well, more relevant than ever!

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rachel Carson is known primarily for Silent Spring, and she is being celebrated in 2020 as we mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. A 45 minute documentary about SILENT SPRING can be watched on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbLAC... I've always admired her, but Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson has given me a glimpse into her life that I had not known.

Publishers Weekly says:
"If fleeting sketches can sometimes say more than the fully realized work, this collection of journal entries, a TV script, speeches and articles by one of the pioneers of the modern environmental movement gracefully delivers. Pieces on the destruction of unique island eco-systems, the connection of music to nature and environmental ""managed care"" of waterfowl refuges offer sad testament to Carson's range, never to be further explored due to her early death from breast cancer, in 1964. Written with mesmeric intensity, Carson's first piece of published adult work, "Undersea," was accepted by the Atlantic in 1935. Reprinted here, it reveals her lasting obsession not only with the sea but with the antiquity and majestic continuity of life on earth. Her other famous passion, exposing the ravaging effects of pesticides, which was devastatingly depicted in her 1962 classic, Silent Spring, is defended here in a speech that marks the maturity of her voice. Highly informed and occasionally withering, this refutation of her big-business critics reveals the nasty arena she felt forced to enter. In other speeches, Carson, a trained biologist, laments the perceived distance between science and a language that can touch nonscientific people. For a TV script on the subject of clouds, she states, in a delicate synthesis of fact and poetry, "They are the writing of the wind on the sky." The careful gathering of fragments by Lear (author of the 1997 biography Rachel Carson) gives rare glimpses of Carson's personal vulnerability and of her strange fusion of restraint and fervor, offering a frequent sense of being in Carson's company."

I was captivated by Carson's fascination with eels and their mysterious pilgrimage to the Sargasso Sea, where both the American and European eel come to spawn. This is but one example of Carson's intense scientific attention to detail combined with a writing style that shows her love for many different parts of the natural world. She shows the same passion for the chimney swift, and she took me along with her on the story of this bird that never touches the ground. "Not only does it eat in the air, the chimney swift drinks and bathes on the wing, dipping to the surface of a pond for a momentary contact with the water; its courtship is aerial; it sometimes even dies in the sky. Probably it is less aware of the earth and its creatures than any other bird in the world."

Her chapter on islands, "Lost Worlds", shows Carson's constant and fiery condemnation of human encroachment on the natural world. She speaks of how tame island birds could be, coming to perch on your shoulder--and then says: "But man, unhappily, has written one of his blackest records as a destroyer on the oceanic islands. He has seldom set foot on an island that he has not brought about disastrous changes. He has destroyed environments by cutting , clearing, and burning; he has brought with him as a chance associate the nefarious rat; and almost invariably he has turned loose upon the islands a whole Noah's Ark of goats, hogs, cattle, dogs, cats, and other non-native animals and plants. Upon species after species of island life, the night of extinctions has fallen."

Later Carson expands her denunciation of humans: "Mankind has gone very far into an artificial world of his own creation. He has sought to insulate himself, in his cities of steel and concrete, from the realities of earth and water and the growing seed. Intoxicated with a sense of his own power, he seems to be going farther and farther into more experiments for the destruction of himself and his world."

Chapter 23, "Clouds", is a television script Carson wrote for Omnibus--and the whole chapter is a delight. Carson didn't have a television, so she watched the program with her brother's family on March 11, 1957. A few days later, she bought her own TV set.

This one small tidbit from a letter she wrote a friend will stay with me as a perfect example of Rachel Carson's love of the natural world and all its creatures. One night she was at the beach with a friend, watching waves filled with phosphorescence hitting the beach. Then she saw a firefly, who was mistaking the lights in the water with another of its kind. Carson waded in and saved the wee creature, taking him home to dry out.

Carson took care of her mother and adopted her niece's son, Roger, when he was only 5, after his mother died. Her life as well as her books reveal a person of great integrity and compassion, combined with a fierce sense of justice.

[grub · Rating 5 out of 5]

a really inspiring journey through some of rachel carson's one of my biggest scientific and personal heroes, lesser known works. the last letter to dorothy freedman made me so sad. i wish she had more time

[Maria Gabarda · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Existe una belleza tan simbólica como real en la migración de las aves; en el flujo y reflujo de las mareas; en el brote incipiente listo para la primavera. Hay algo infinitamente sanador en estos estribillos de la naturaleza que no dejan de repetirse: la certeza de que el amanecer viene después de la noche, y la primavera después del invierno."

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quotable:

About sundown the island, that had lain so silent all day long, began to come to life. Then the forms of large, dark birds could be seen moving among its trees, and hoarse cries that brought to mind thoughts of ancient, reptilian monsters came across the water. Sometimes one of the birds would emerge from the shadows and fly across our shore, then revealing itself as a great blue heron out for an evening’s fishing.
It was during those early evening hours that the sense of mystery that invested the island drew somehow closer about it, so that I wished even more to know what lay beyond the wall of dark spruces. Was there somewhere within it an open glade that held the sunlight? Or was there only solid forest from shore to shore? Perhaps it was all forest, for the island voice that came to us most clearly and beautifully each evening was the voice of a forest spirit, the hermit thrush. At the hour of the evening’s beginning its broken, silvery cadences drifted with infinite deliberation across the water. Its phrases were filled with a beauty and a meaning that were not wholly of the present, as though the thrush were singing of other sunsets, extending far back beyond his personal memory, through eons of time when his forebears had known this place, and from spruce trees long since returned to earth had sung the beauty of the evening.

People often seem to be surprised that a woman should have written a book about the sea. This is especially true, I find, of men. Perhaps they have been accustomed to thinking of the more exciting fields of scientific knowledge as exclusively masculine domains. In fact, one of my correspondents not long ago addressed me as “Dear Sir” – explaining that although he knew perfectly well that I was a woman, he simply could not bring himself to acknowledge that fact.

For many years public-spirited citizens throughout the country have been working for the conservation of the natural resources, realizing their vital importance to the Nation. Apparently their hard-won progress is to be wiped out, as a politically minded Administration returns us to the dark ages of unrestrained exploitation and destruction.
It is one of the ironies of our time that, while concentrating on the defense of our country against enemies from without, we should be so heedless of those who would destroy it from within. (1952)

Lamenting the remoteness of science from the average citizen, Carson characteristically recommended that students explore their subjects first in nature and in the writings of the great naturalists before venturing into the laboratory.

Knowledge of the facts of science is not the prerogative of a small number of men, isolated in their laboratories, but belongs to all men, for the realities of science are the realities of life itself. We cannot understand the problems that concern us in this, our particular moment in time, unless we first understand our environment and the forces that have made us what we are, physically and mentally.

I would like to say that in Silent Spring I have never asked the reader to take my word. I have given him a very clear indication of my sources. I make it possible for him – indeed I invite him – to go beyond what I report and get the full picture. This is the reason for the 55 pages of references. You cannot do this if you are trying to conceal or distort or to present half truths.

As I look back through history I find a parallel. I ask you to recall the uproar that followed Charles Darwin’s announcement of his theories of evolution. The concept of man’s origin from pre-existing forms was hotly and emotionally denied, and the denials came not only from the lay public but from Darwin’s peers in science. Only after many years did the concepts set forth in The Origin of Species become firmly established. Today, it would be hard to find any person of education who would deny the facts of evolution. Yet so many of us deny the obvious corollary: that man is affected by the same environmental influences that control the lives of all the many thousands of other species to which he is related by evolutionary ties.

[Charles Sheard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 5 stars are specific to the target audience: those who have a special desire to read more from Carson, through her speeches and letters, which naturally will not be an overly large audience. But for me, there was a time when I made an annual summer trip to Southport Island, Maine, to fall into the same contemplative reveries surrounded by the same sea, rocks, evergreens, and winds, as Carson. My children swam at Hendricks Head Beach, a gull's cry from Carson's cottage, giving me one of my favorite lifetime photographs of my youngest daughter, surrounded by the red cast of sunset across the green seaweed beds, the water flashing celadon in the angled light, like a mermaid spy hopping the human world. That same daughter is now finishing up her second year as a Marine Biology major in Seattle, the treasured volumes of Carson in a place of pride on her desk.


Some of the speeches reuse phrases or ideas. Some of the speeches are short on the specifics of Silent Spring or the poetic magic of Under the Sea Wind, but that is natural given the circumstances. They nevertheless provide further glimpses of, and insights into, the thoughts of one of the most important scientific and nature communicators we have known, who should have lived longer. So for that, a well-deserved 5 stars. And special thanks to editor Linda Lear, who is unfortunately not credited on this edition's entry at Goodreads, for her careful and caring introductions to each selection. If you haven't read Carson's four books, give them a try first ... but hopefully you'll find yourself drawn back to this book afterwards.

One quote, unfortunately, from her final speech just over 60 years ago, has proven to be ironically, and unfortunately, mistaken over time, as she gives utterly too gracious a benefit of the doubt to mankind: "Today, it would be hard to find any person of education who would deny the facts of evolution." We so very much need to be better as a species than we are.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first Rachel Carson book, which was perhaps a bit of an odd choice, it just happened that way.

The book starts off wonderfully with the essay ‘Undersea’. The rest of the book is kind of a strange mix of essays, letters and lectures. Sometimes quite personal, other times focused on her topics of interest. At times the content could be repetitive.

Some of the pieces I loved, but generally I thought that many of the pieces included in this book was a bit boring or unremarkable. The book might be best suitable for hard-core Carson fans. I think the pieces that I enjoyed the most, where the texts where she writes about writing non-fiction about nature.

She writes beautifully and creatively. Most of the time I love it, but sometimes I feel like the poetic language can become a barrier.

Anyway, the book made me want to read more of Carson’s writing.

[Diane Moser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of writings from Rachel Carson, edited by Linda Lear from 1937-1963. Some of the writings were published in various magazine, some are speeches that she gave and a few are letters. All of them are astounding! I happen to be a big fan of Rachel Carson, not only for her activism, but she is one incredible writer. I highly recommend reading this. It's not a long book, but I took time reading it, taking lots of notes for my Waterbirds Project. I think most folks would read this in 2 weeks at the most, it's 247 pages.

[Kulbhushan Suryawanshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a biography of Rachel Carson through her public writing, speeches and some personal letters. It has some of the finest examples of non-fiction writing about the environment. Each chapter starts with a context about the period in Rachel Carson's life when it was written. Each chapter impresses something new upon the reader. The early chapters inspire a wonder about the sea and the creatures that live in it. Later chapters stir a concern for the environment and the need to us to act. Undoubtedly, Rachel Carson is one of the all time best writers on the sea and the environment.

[oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction to Rachel Carson. A balance of texts from her work as a biologist, ecologist and personal life. Her perspective on the world, and how she portrays it in her writing, were certainly ideal to gain the interest of the general public back then; it’s very digestible if you’re not an expert in these fields.

[Max Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of essays by Rachel Carson. She does a great job of merging ecology or other aspects of natural history with great story telling.

One of my favorite quotes from the book:
"The clouds are as old as the Earth itself - as much a part of our world as land or sea. They are the writing of the wind on the sky."

[Lourdes Baile · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leer estos extractos literarios, cartas, ensayos y ponencias ha sido un bellísimo descubrimiento. Sin duda, reflejan la personalidad de Rachel Carson, una mujer fascinante y luchadora que dejó una huella indiscutible en la Ecología moderna. Madre del ambientalismo: ¡Lo que hubiera dado por tomarme un café contigo!

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had loved Silent Spring so much that I intended to read everything by Carson eventually, and then I really struggled with The Sea Around Us. Reading this makes me think that I still want to read much more by her. There is so much beautiful writing about a beautiful world, but with responsibility and conscience.

[Maureen Caupp · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It is one of the ironies of our that, while concentrating on the defense of our country against enemies from without, we should be so heedless of those who would destroy it from within."
Rachel Carson 1953

[BJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding job on how her personal life experiences made her whi she us. Personal letters by Rachel Carson really peels the onion of what drove her to be the beacon for ecology and the harm pesticide companies can do for profit.

[David Melbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this little book.

[Billie Hinton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of shorter writings, speeches, book reviews, and letters of Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring. Wonderful and inspiring.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written. Very accessible. I understand why she is hailed as the founder of environmentalism. I found it relaxing to read right before bed.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful read. This collection of articles, speeches, and letters by Rachel Carson gives insight into the person she was outside of her books.

[Ray Zimmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A afbulous collection of works by Rachel Carson. The editor discovered these papers, letters, articles, ec. while working on a biography.

[Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rachel Carson was such an incredible woman