In A Little History, my next-to-last chapter ends with a brief sketch of Rachel Carson, one exemplar of how Americans had come to realize the interconnectedness of their world, both globally and in terms of the environment around them. (Gordon Allen's headpiece for the chapter (above) evoked Carson looking out on the ocean at a sailing ship on the horizon, a hint of temporal connectedness with Christopher Columbus's ship seen in the headpiece of Chapter 1 of the book.) Now PBS has produced a fine documentary in their American Experience series, entitled "Rachel Carson." At this writing it's available for viewing on the Web here. I highly recommend it.
    I do so partly because a colleague, friend and coauthor of many years is one of the film's expert contributors. Mark Lytle did a biography of Carson, The Gentle Subversive, for a series I co-edit for Oxford University Press. Gracefully written and relatively brief  (about 250 pages), it's a useful overview for those who want to dig a little deeper.

If only this were true. At the very least, if only I were in Scotland... This just in from a friend, a television listing from a Scottish newspaper: