Description: With never-before-seen illustrations and intimate detail, Lear goes beyond the perennial fascination with Beatrix Potter as a writer and illustrator of children's books, and delves deeply into the life of a most unusual and gifted woman. One 8-page b&w insert. Two 8-page color inserts.
Brief description: Linda Lear, a professor of environmental history and author of the prize-winning biography Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature, is an enthusiastic horticulturalist and collector of botanical art. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland.
Review Quotes: Praise for Linda Lear's BEATRIX POTTER: "An in-depth biography of Beatrix Potter is long overdue and here Linda Lear fills that gap with a thoroughly well-researched and compelling book."--Judy Taylor, author of "Beatrix Potter: Artist, Storyteller and Countrywoman" Praise for Linda Lear's RACHEL CARSON: WITNESS FOR NATURE:
.."a probing and scrupulously footnoted accounting of this extraordinary woman's life....Lear's treatment of Carson's romantic life is never prurient, and it helps fill out the portrait of a gifted and courageous woman who helped redefine the way humans look at their place in nature."--"Time"
"Linda Lear's RACHEL CARSON: WITNESS FOR NATURE is timely indeed. Happily it is also authoritative. Lear..has the empathy, balance and literary skill to conjure up Carson the scientist, writer, lover and family member, shackled for life to need relatives....As both biography and scientific commentary, RACHEL CARSON: WITNESS FOR NATURE is a staggering accomplishment. Lear's impressive research, scrupulous presentation, deep sensitivity, controlled passion and lyrical prose are reminiscent of Carson's, and paint a mulit-dimensional portrait of the woman whose Silent Spring unleashed shrieks of protest that still resound today."--Elizabeth Abbott
"Hers was an exemplary existence, and now it has been told in exemplary fashion by Linda Lear....Lear is honest but tactful - reflecting Carson's own delicacy....the power of Lear's magnificent, heartfelt biography is enough to send the reader back to Carson's writing with new attention and respect."--Verlyn Klinkenborg," Audubon"
"Much deserved, a biography would also be difficult to write. Happily, RACHEL CARSON: WITNESSFOR NATURE by Linda Lear is sensitive, scrupulous and a consistently fine read."--"Baltimore Sun" "In terms of research, Carson has been well-served by her biographer."-- "Observer Review"
"Linda Lear's prose is tidy, meticulous in its attention to detail and shows a deep reverence for its subject."--"New Scientist"