Silent Spring

In 1958, William Shawn commissioned the marine biologist Rachel Carson to write about the catastrophic environmental effects of the pesticide DDT. Four years later, Carson published her magnum opus, Silent Spring, which painstakingly documented DDT’s impact on wildlife, water, and human bodies. Carson assailed the chemical industry for aggressively marketing their products with full knowledge of their danger, drawing backlash from many corporations. Before the book’s release, The New Yorker serialized Silent Spring, sharing Carson’s shocking findings with millions of readers. Carson died within two years of the book’s publication, but her work catalyzed the environmental movement, including organizations like the Environmental Action Coalition, which helped establish Earth Day in 1970.