Though she grew up in rural Pennsylvania Rachel Carson dreamed of the sea. In 1936 she began work with the Bureau of Fisheries and soon after published <i>Under the Sea Wind</i> her first of many nature books. Her 1962 bestseller <i>Silent Spring</i> sent shockwaves through the country and warned of the dangers of DDT and other pesticides. A pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson helped awaken the global consciousness for conservation and preservation.