From the celebrated writer and observer Robert Macfarlane comes this brilliant
perspective-shifting new book - which answers a resounding yes to the question of its title
At its heart is a single transformative idea: that rivers are not mere matter for human use
but living beings - who should be recognized as such in both imagination and law. Inspired by
the activists artists and lawmakers of the young 'Rights of Nature' movement Macfarlane takes
the reader on an exhilarating exploration of the past present and futures of this ancient
urgent concept. Is a River Alive? flows like water from the mountains to the sea over three
major journeys: The first is to northern Ecuador where a miraculous cloud-forest and its
rivers are threatened with destruction by gold-mining. The second is to the wounded rivers
creeks and lagoons of southern India where a desperate battle to save the lives of these
waterbodies is under way. The third is to north-eastern Quebec where a spectacular wild river
- the Mutehekau or Magpie - is being defended from death by damming in a river-rights campaign.
Braiding these journeys is the life story of the fragile chalk stream who rises a mile from
Macfarlane's house and flows through his own years and days. Passionate immersive and
revelatory Is a River Alive? is at once Macfarlane's most personal and most political book to
date. It is a book that will open hearts spark debates and challenge perspectives. Lit
throughout by other minds and voices it invites us radically to reimagine not only rivers but
also life itself. At the centre of this vital beautiful book is the recognition that our fate
flows with that of rivers - and always has. 'He is the great nature writer and nature poet
of this generation' Wall Street Journal 'A naturalist who can unfurl a sentence with the
breathless ease of a master angler a writer whose ideas and reach far transcend the physical
region he explores' The New York Times Book Review
