During the American Civil War.
It was the academic community who <span>mostly agreed and backed the book's scientific research and evidence. Also the public opinion backed Carson's text. On the other hand, t</span>here was strong backlash <span>from the chemical industry for book's message. </span>DuPont, Velsicol Chemical Company<span>, and the </span>American Cyanamid<span> biochemist </span>Robert White-Stevens<span> and former Cyanamid chemist </span>Thomas Jukes<span> were amongst the aggressive critics of the research especially that it was attacking the chemicals that they were producing.</span>
The author is talking about how the us had to waste countless lives in wars against the communist and it seems he/she is trying to convince the reader about how absurd this situation is and how we should stop sending our soldiers to fight these dumb wars that have started for reasons unexplained.
(sorry if this doesn't help i tried to point out a main idea)
