Is a River Alive?

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 to northern Ecuador, where a miraculous cloud-forest and its rivers are threatened by goldmining.

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

And finally, 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.

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<>

A propos de l'auteur

Robert Macfarlane's Sunday Times- and New York Times-bestselling books include Is a River Alive?, Underland, Landmarks, The Old Ways, The Wild Places and Mountains of the Mind, as well 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, albums, choral works, and films including River and Mountain, both narrated by Willem Dafoe.

Macfarlane has collaborated closely with artists including Olafur Eliasson, and with the artist Jackie Morris he co-created the internationally bestselling books of nature-poetry and art, The Lost Words and The Lost Spells. In 2017, the American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded him the E.M. Forster Prize for Literature, and in 2023 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 Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and is presently working on a graphic novel re-telling of the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Macfarlane and Morris's latest project, The Book of Birds, will be published in May 2026.

Commentaire

Everyone who has ever found something to love in a river should find something to love in this book. It is a masterpiece The Economist

Détails du produit

• Auteurs: Robert Macfarlane
• Edition: Hamish Hamilton
• Langues: Anglais
• Format d'édition: Livre Relié
• Sortie: 01.05.2025
• EAN: 9780241624814
• ISBN: 978-0-241-62481-4
• Pages: 384
• Dimensions: 156 mm x 240 mm x 28 mm
• Catégories: Littérature spécialisée > Nature, technique > Nature: général, ouvrages de référence; Livres de conseils > Nature; Sciences naturelles, médecine, informatique, technique > Biologie > Ecologie; SCIENCE / Global Warming & Climate Change, Nature / Environmental Conservation & Protection, Climate Change, Quebec, NATURE / Ecosystems & Habitats / General, Ecuador, The environment, Conservation of wildlife & habitats, Conservation of the environment, Ecological science, the Biosphere, Nature and the natural world: general interest, Human Geography, Rivers and lakes, Environmentalist thought and ideology, Conservation of wildlife and habitats, Green politics / ecopolitics / environmentalism, Southern India