**From celebrated writer 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 ...

**From celebrated writer 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. Is a River Alive?*takes the reader on an exhilarating exploration of the past, present and futures of this ancient, urgent concept.

The book flows first tonorthern Ecuador, where a miraculous cloud-forest and its rivers are threatened by goldmining.

Then, to the wounded rivers, creeks and lagoons ofsouthern India, where a desperate battle to save the lives of these waterbodies is under way.

And finally, tonorth-eastern Quebec, where a spectacular wild river - the Mutehekau or Magpie - is being defended from death by damming in a river-rights campaign.At once Macfarlane's most personal and most political book to date, Is a River Alive? will open hearts, spark debates and lead us to the revelation that our fate flows with that of rivers - and always has**