Fifty years ago, on September 27, 1962, Rachel Carson published her book Silent Spring. The book is like a bible to many environmentalists, and it is largely responsible for the ban on DDT that was first imposed by our own Environmental Protection Agency and then by the UN and the World Health Organization. The book is still reverently taught in high schools and colleges. Thirty years ago, in 1982, our Postal Service honored Rachel Carson with her own commemorative postage stamp. The real story behind Rachel Carson and Silent Spring, however, is anything but good. She had only modest background...