Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers' 1972 song “Roadrunner” captures the freedom and wonder of cruising down the highway late at night with the radio on. Although the song circles Boston's beltway, its significance reaches far beyond Richman's deceptively simple declarations of love for modern moonlight, the made world, and rock & roll. In Roadrunner, cultural theorist and poet Joshua Clover charts both the song's emotional power and its elaborate history, tracing its place in popular music from Chuck Berry to M.I.A. He also locates “Roadrunner” at the intersection of car culture, industrialization, consumption, mobility, and politics. Like the song itself, Clover tells a story about a particular time and place—the American era that rock & roll signifies—that becomes a story about love and the modern world.

Papa Road Runner makes certain that his children learn about the tricks coyotes play.

The author describes her experiences with a family of roadrunners who come to live near her house.

Because Rattlesnake has taken over the road and will not let any of the people or animals in the village use it, Desert Woman enlists the aid of the other animals to create a strange new creature with the necessary tools to overcome Rattlesnake.

For everyone who loves the bird we call roadrunner, camino corres, paisano, chaparral. . . . Southwesterners are well accustomed to this sleek, mostly brown and white, long-tailed nemesis of coyote as it darts across roads or perches on a post or branch never too far from the ground. Equally familiar is the stylized image of the roadrunner, which adorns everything from Native American pottery and jewelry to clothing and logos. Clearly the roadrunner continues to thrive as a cultural icon. Yet no other study comes close to equaling Wyman Meinzer's stunning classic, now 04 Activeable in this tenth anniversary edition. Meinzer's photo study is his personal account of the years he has spent observing and recording the daily routine of several roadrunner families. Through his lens, Meinzer chronicled roadrunners' courting, mating, nesting, hunting, and rearing their young. Punctuated by humor and poignancy, his story possesses an unmatched connectedness and insights afforded only those who develop a longstanding relationship with their subjects of study. Many of the roadrunners that Meinzer recorded became comfortable with his presence--one even permitted his assistance in catching a lizard. Though it is hard to improve upon a classic, this new edition, celebrating the book's tenth year of publication, includes a new preface from Meinzer and several new photographs, including that of a rare white roadrunner.

A personal, lively, in-depth account of the life and lore of the roadrunner.