SHORTLISTED FOR BLACKWELL'S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025<\/b><\/i>
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR CONSERVATION WRITING 2025
SHORTLISTED FOR THE INDIE BOOK AWARDS 2026<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
From celebrated writer Robert Macfarlane comes this brilliant, perspective-shifting new book – which answers a resounding yes<\/i> to the question of its title.<\/b><\/p>\n
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?<\/i> takes the reader on an exhilarating exploration of the past, present and futures of this ancient, urgent concept.<\/p>\n
The book flows first to northern Ecuador<\/b>, where a miraculous cloud-forest and its rivers are threatened by goldmining.<\/p>\n
Then, to the wounded rivers, creeks and lagoons of southern India<\/b>, where a desperate battle to save the lives of these waterbodies is under way.<\/p>\n
And finally, to north-eastern Quebec<\/b>, where a spectacular wild river – the Mutehekau or Magpie – is being defended from death by damming in a river-rights campaign.<\/p>\n
At once Macfarlane’s most personal and most political book to date, Is a River Alive?<\/i> will open hearts, spark debates and lead us to the revelation that our fate flows with that of rivers – and always has.<\/p>\n
2025 BOOK OF THE YEAR ACCORDING TO SPECTATOR, I PAPER, ECONOMIST, ESQUIRE, TIME<\/p>\n
SHORTLISTED FOR THE EDWARD STANFORD TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2026
SHORTLISTED FOR THE SHERBORNE PRIZE FOR TRAVEL WRITING 2026<\/i><\/b>
LONGLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2026<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At the heart of ‘Is a River Alive?’ is a single, transformative idea: that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings, who should be recognised as such in both imagination and law. Macfarlane takes the reader on a mind-expanding global journey into the history, futures, people and places of the ancient, urgent concept. Around the world, rivers are dying from pollution, drought and damming. But a powerful movement is also underway to recognize the lives and the rights of rivers, and to re-animate our relationships with these vast, mysterious presences whose landscapes we share. The young ‘rights of nature’ movement has lit up activists, artists, law-makers and politicians across six continents – and become the focus for revolutionary thinking about rivers in particular.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[98],"product_tag":[588,340,697,1648,1911],"class_list":["post-117929","product","type-product","status-publish","product_cat-nat-history-popular-science","product_tag-climate-change","product_tag-conservation-of-wildlife-habitats","product_tag-ecological-science-the-biosphere","product_tag-environmentalist-thought-ideology","product_tag-human-geography","pa_book_author-macfarlane-robert","pa_cover-paperback","pa_dewey-577-6401-edition23","pa_imprint-penguin-books","pa_language-english","pa_pages-8281","pa_publisher-penguin-books","pa_readership-general-trade-code-k","first","instock","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"yoast_head":"\n