Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was first published in three serialized excerpts in the New Yorker in June of 1962. The book appeared in September of that year, and the outcry that followed its publication forced the banning of DDT and spurred revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water. Carson’s passionate concern for the future of our planet reverberated powerfully throughout the world, and her eloquent book was instrumental in launching the environmental movement. It is without question one of the landmark books of the twentieth century.

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE – ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW‘S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST

Historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway explain how a loose–knit group of high-level scientists with extensive political connections ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades. In seven compelling chapters addressing tobacco, acid rain, the ozone hole, global warming, and DDT, Oreskes and Conway roll back the rug on this dark corner of the American scientific community, showing how the ideology of free-market fundamentalism, aided by a too-compliant media, has skewed public understanding of some of the most pressing issues of our era.

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0:18

Track 01. Intro to Recording

Gus Speth
4:42

02. Natural Resources Defense Council

Gus Speth
5:40

03. The History of the Environmental Movement

Gus Speth
5:55

05. Merchants of Doubt

Gus Speth
5:27

04. Views on Climate Change

Gus Speth
5:31

06. The US Political Economy

Gus Speth