Is a River Alive? - SIGNED EXCLUSIVE WATERSTONES ISSUE

Macfarlane, Robert

ISBN 10: 0241624819 / ISBN 13: 9780241624814

Published by Hamish Hamilton, London, 2025

About this Item

Fine first printing in fine dust wrapper. A new, unread copy in perfect state. Blue boards with silver decoration of a river flowing from source to mouth. Light blue themed end papers unique to this issue. Issued with a signed 'Exclusive signed edition' page bound in between the half title and title page.

Seller Inventory # 009948

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Is a River Alive? - SIGNED EXCLUSIVE WATERSTONES ISSUE
• Publisher: Hamish Hamilton, London
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0241624819
• ISBN 13: 9780241624814
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

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 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.