该书以寓言式的开头描绘了一个美丽村庄的突变。书的前半部分，对土壤、植物、动物、水源等相互联系的生态网络的讲解，说明了化学药剂对大自然产生的毒害；后半部分则针对人类生活所接触的化学毒害问题，提出严重的警告。作者以详尽的阐释和独到的分析，细致地讲述了以DDT为代表的杀虫剂的广泛使用，给人们的生存环境所造成的难以逆转的危害——人类不断想控制自然的结果，却使生态破坏殆尽，也在不知不觉间累积毒物于自身甚至遗祸子孙。

这部作品不仅有严谨求实的科学理性精神，而且文字优美细腻，充溢着敬畏自然与生命的人文情怀。

罹患癌症的卡森带病写完本书，两年后告别人世。她被视为全世界环保运动的先驱，她在书里留下的呼吁，她所提出的人应与自然合作、毒害大自然就是在毒害人类的思想，至今仍值得我们重视。

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring alerted a large audience to the environmental and human dangers of indiscriminate use of pesticides, spurring revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water. 

This Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by Lord Shackleton, a preface by World Wildlife Fund founder Julian Huxley, and an afterword by Carson's biographer Linda Lear. 

Now recognized as one of the most influential books of the twentieth century, Silent Spring exposed the destruction of wildlife through the widespread use of pesticides. Despite condemnation in the press and heavy-handed attempts by the chemical industry to ban the book, Rachel Carson succeeded in creating a new public awareness of the environment which led to changes in government and inspired the ecological movement. It is thanks to this book, and the help of many environmentalists, that harmful pesticides such as DDT were banned from use in the US and countries around the world.

该书定名为《寂静的春天》得益于该书的编辑保罗·布鲁克斯。在阅读书稿过程中，当他读到鸟儿寂静无声令人心碎的情节时，便想到了这个题名。

1962年，《寂静的春天》正式出版后，成为美国和全世界的畅销书。本书的危机思考，引起美国政府的重视，从而在1972年禁止DDT的生产和使用。其后世界各国纷纷效法，目前几乎全世界已经没有DDT的生产工厂了。《寂静的春天》被看作是全世界环境保护事业的开端。