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Book Name
Is a River Alive?
Author
Robert Macfarlane
Bar Code
£25.00 (9780241624814)
Details
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 radicaly 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.
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About the Author
Robert Macfarlane is internationaly renowned for his writing on nature, people and place. His bestseling books include Underland, Landmarks, The Old Ways, The Wild Places and Mountains of the Mind, as wel as a book-length prose poem, Ness. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages, won prizes around the world, and been widely adapted for film, music, theatre, radio and dance. He has also written operas, plays, and films including River and Mountain, both narrated by Wi lem Dafoe. He has colaborated closely with artists including Olafur Eliasson and Stanley Donwood, and with the artist Jackie Morris he co-created the internationaly bestseling books of nature poetry and art, The Lost Words and The Lost Spels. As a lyricist and performer, he has written albums and songs with musicians including Cosmo Sheldrake, Karine Polwart and Johnny Flynn, with whom he has released two albums, Lost In The Cedar Wood (2021) and The Moon Also Rises (2023). In 2017, the American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded him the E.M. Forster Prize for Literature, and in 2022 in Toronto he was the inaugural winner of the Weston International Award for a body of work in the field of non-fiction. He is a Felow of Emmanuel Colege, Cambridge, and is currently completing his third book with Jackie Morris: The Lost Birds.
Reviewed On
18/02/2025
225181