Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

For as long as I can remember, I have seen a copy of Silent Spring on my parent's bookshelf. Sam and I sort of use their house as a long-distance, long-term library, and during our most recent mass book collection, Silent Spring ended up in the pile.
Silent Spring was written by Rachel Carson, an established natural history writer, and published in 1962. It is widely credited with starting what we now think of as the environmental movement in the U.S. Her book also helped in the banning of dangerous agricultural chemicals, which she documented were causing negative effects on the natural world. It is listed in the top ten (#5) best non-fiction books by the Modern Library.
As you know, we live in Portland, a city that seems to be deeply caught up in the "green" movement right now. There are tons of farmer's markets, Prius', ecological NGOs, and pricey organic grocery stores. While I am fully in support of the premise in which environmentalism is based on, as of late I feel like being "green" has become a trendy, elitist status symbol. I chose to read Silent Spring, not only because it is considered a nonfiction classic, but also because I thought it might be interesting to get back to the roots of a current national craze.