Why was Silent Spring such an important book?

Silent Spring was such an important book because it raised awareness of the damage that the large-scale use of pesticides (and human activities more broadly) were doing to the environment. Carson's highest-profile target in the book was DDT, a pesticide that had the unfortunate effect of killing birds as well.  By drawing attention to this problem (and highlighting its potential effects on humans as well) Carson achieved tangible results. The use of DDT was banned in the United States, along with several other pesticides. But the book is often seen to have been a crucial spark for an emerging environmentalist movement, one which itself confronted the effects of unregulated industry on the environment. This movement culminated with federal action, as President Richard Nixon signed the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as Clean Air and Clear Water acts into existence in the early 1970s. In the words of one author, "EPA [the federal Environmental Protection Agency] today may be said without exaggeration to be the extended shadow of Rachel Carson." Many Americans, chastened and fearful of the effects of pollution, and skeptical of the willingness of corporate industries to "self-regulate" pressured the federal government into action, and Silent Spring is often seen as a major factor in building momentum for this movement.