American car culture is everywhere in the history of policing. Below are a mix of songs, films, books, and more that are in POLICING THE OPEN ROAD or provided writing inspiration:

Jay-Z’s “99 Problems”

Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car”

The Hitchhiker

Thelma & Louise

The Great Gatsby

The Wind in the Willows

“Gee, Officer Krupke” from West Side Story (actually, this song is not about cars, but Policing the Open Road discusses it to make an important counterpoint about the streets)

“The Sacred,” by Stephen Dunn

Grant Wood’s “Death on the Ridge Road,” 1935 (right). Wood painted this a few months after his friend, a Cedar Rapids poet, was involved in a car accident.

Jonathan Calm’s photography

America on the Move, at the National Museum of American History