由蕾切尔·卡逊撰写的《寂静的春天》，被公认为是环境史上的著名著作，书中关于化学杀虫剂滥用所造成的危害的研究，不仅推动了美国环境保护署的成立，促使国会颁布关于DDT使用的禁止条令，还极大地推动了环境保护运动在美国乃至全球范围内的开展。在《寂静的春天》出版之前，美国社会也曾发生过几次与环境问题有关的事件，但都没有在全社会范围内产生如此广泛的影响。 二战之后，科学技术的滥用带来的负面效应逐渐显露，公众的危机意识日益增强，对于环境和健康问题的关注日益加深；此时，已是美国知名科普作家的蕾切尔·卡逊开始关注DDT使用造成的危害；1957年，公众对于联邦政府接连实施的“消灭火蚁计划”和“空中喷洒杀虫剂计划”所开展的讨论使得卡逊决心对杀虫剂的性质及其危害进行研究。卡逊经过四年的学习、调研、撰写，1962年6月，《寂静的春天》以系列文章的形式在《纽约客》杂志上连载三期。文章一经问世，便受到了来自农业部、化工企业、研究机构以及科学家的强烈反对和媒体的持续报道；同年9月，《寂静的春天》单行本出版，社会争论愈演愈烈。与此同时，肯尼迪政府也关注到这场环境问题引发的社会运动。1963年5月，总统科学顾问委员会在经过调查研究之后，发表了题为《杀虫剂的使用》的报告，代表官方立场肯定了卡逊的工作，此番争论到此得以暂时平息。这场争论的背后，其实反映着当时的社会状况：20世纪60年代初，美国为了在冷战中战胜苏联，加大了对基础科学研究和教育的投入，公众也随之给予科学技术空前关注；科技进步带动了传媒行业的发展，美国社会的工业化和城市化也推动了大众文化的繁荣，公众通过印刷媒体和广播媒体对社会热点事件的报道，间接参与到相关问题的讨论与政策制定的过程当中。 《寂静的春天》之所以成为环境史上的标志性事件，除了卡逊的博物学研究及写作背景外，她本人在政府机构十几年的工作经历和《寂静的春天》出版前后的政治参与和团队合作，加速了政府对此事的关注；争论当中，卡逊也得到了来自政府官员和科学家的支持，加诸公众的关注与参与，使得这样一件关于科学技术使用的讨论，上升为了有关科技和环境政策制定的生态学运动。

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring has been acknowledged as one of the most reknown book in environmental history. This book disclosed the harm caused by the abuse of chemical pesticide research, which not only promoted the establishment of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, as well as the ban on DDT use, but also greatly promoted the environmental protection movement in the United States and the whole world. However, before the publication of Silent Spring, there were several incidents related to environmental problems in American society, but none of them had such a great impact on the whole society. Therefore, an in-depth study of Rachel Carson and the writing and publishing process of Silent Spring is necessary. After world war II, the negative effects of science and technology were gradually revealed, and the public's crisis awareness and concern about environmental and health problems were increasingly deepened. In the early 1960s, in order to defeat the Soviet union in the Cold War, the United States government increased its investment in basic scientific research and education. The advancement of science and technology had driven the development of media industry, and the industrialization and urbanization of American society also promoted the prosperity of mass culture. The public indirectly participated in the discussion of relevant issues and the process of policy making through the report of social issues by both print and broadcast media. At this time, Rachel Carson, a well-known American science writer, began to pay attention to the harm of DDT. In 1957, public discussion of the federal "fire ant eradication program" and the "air spraying insecticide program" led Carson to study the nature and harm of pesticides. After four years of study, research and writing by Carson, Silent Spring was serialized in three issues of the New Yorker magazine in June 1962. Once published, the article received strong opposition from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, chemical industry, research institutions and scientists, as well as continuous media coverage. After the publication of Silent Spring in September, the debate over its contents intensified, and the Kennedy government began to focus on this social environmental movement. The controversy turned to calm down in May 1963, when the President’s Science Advisory Committee, after an investigation, issued a report entitled Use of Pesticides, affirming Carson's work on behalf of the official position. The reason why Silent Spring has become a landmark event in environmental history is that, in addition to Carson's background of natural history research and writing, her more -than -ten years work experience in government and her political participation and teamwork before and after the publication of Silent Spring accelerated the government's attention to this matter. During the debate, Carson also received support from government officials and scientists, and increased public attention and participation, making such an environmental problem caused by the abuse of science and technology become an ecological movement for the formulation of science, technology and environmental policies.