Rachel Carson at 100: An environmental icon's unseen fortitude

Here, in a study that faces the garden [in Silver Spring, Md.], is where Rachel Carson would sit and write on days when she felt well. Here, in a bedroom with a dogwood outside the window, is where she would lie down and write on days when she felt worse...

Carson's book Silent Spring, published in 1962, led to the banning of the pesticide DDT, the launch of modern environmentalism and her enshrinement as a kind of patron saint of nature. In this region, Carson's name has been given to two schools, a park and a hiking trail -- and it is evoked seemingly whenever environmentalists gather.

But this year, as the 100th anniversary of her birth approaches, people across the Washington area are also remembering the personal story that goes with Carson's legend...