The writings in Part One reflect the diversity of Carson’s early interests and her efforts to find subject and style for her writing. It opens with the essay “Undersea,” a characteristically searching and lyrical piece, which inaugurated her public literary career when it was published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1937. Part One ends with selections from “Mattamuskeet,” one of five Conservation in Action pamphlets Carson wrote and edited for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She was the second female professional hired by the agency, and during her fifteen-year federal career there, rose from aquatic biologist to editor-in-chief of all Service publications.
“Mattamuskeet” reflects the confident writing of a mature scientist who knows her subject, her audience, and her public mission to inform. It also exhibits Carson’s understanding of the intricate ecology of a wildlife habitat and her desire to communicate the importance of these ecological relationships.
Between these two selections is a telling example of childhood writing and several journalistic features written for the Baltimore Sun that demonstrate Carson’s lifelong interest in the preservation of wildlife, her skeptical view of human interference in the natural world, and her passionate interest in birds. Two unpublished literary fragments from the 1940s testify to Carson’s growing sophistication as a naturalist and nature writer. Taken together, these writings offer a window to Rachel Carson’s early ecological consciousness and her evolution as a natural scientist.