Is a River Alive? is a joyful, mind-expanding exploration of an ancient, urgent idea: rivers are living beings who should be recognized as such in imagination and law. Macfarlane takes readers on three journeys teeming with extraordinary people, stories, and places: to the miraculous cloud-forests and mountain streams of Ecuador, to the wounded creeks and lagoons of India, and to the spectacular wild rivers of Canada–imperiled respectively by mining, pollution, and dams. Braiding these journeys is the life story of the fragile chalk stream a mile from Macfarlane’s house, a stream who flows through his own years and days. Is a River Alive? will open hearts, challenge perspectives, and remind readers that their fate flows with that of rivers–and always has.