An eye-opening and witty account of the global ecological transformations wrought by roads, from the award-winning author of Eager.

Some 40 million miles of roadways encircle the earth, yet we tend to regard them only as infrastructure for human convenience. While roads are so ubiquitous they’re practically invisible to us, wild animals experience them as entirely alien forces of death and disruption. In Crossings, environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb travels throughout the United States and around the world to investigate how roads have transformed our planet. A million animals are killed by cars each day in the U.S. alone, but as the new science of road ecology shows, the harms of highways extend far beyond roadkill. Creatures from antelope to salmon are losing their ability to migrate in search of food and mates; invasive plants hitch rides in tire treads; road salt contaminates lakes and rivers; and the very noise of traffic chases songbirds from vast swaths of habitat.

Yet road ecologists are also seeking to blunt the destruction through innovative solutions. Goldfarb meets with conservationists building bridges for California’s mountain lions and tunnels for English toads, engineers deconstructing the labyrinth of logging roads that web national forests, animal rehabbers caring for Tasmania’s car-orphaned wallabies, and community organizers working to undo the havoc highways have wreaked upon American cities.

Today, as our planet’s road network continues to grow exponentially, the science of road ecology has become increasingly vital. Written with passion and curiosity, Crossings is a sweeping, spirited, and timely investigation into how humans have altered the natural world—and how we can create a better future for all living beings.

“Wide-ranging and absorbing…Brilliant.” ― Bill McKibben, New York Review of Books

“Fascinating and compassionate…[Goldfarb] does an admirable job of detailing the ways that highways and freeways divide our cities along racial lines…It’s rare for a work so focused on wildlife conservation to also treat race.” ― Emily Raboteau, New York Times Book Review

“Goldfarb is perceptive about how roads tangle animals together with humans…Crossings is well-paced and vivid, an engaging account.” ― Timothy Farrington, Wall Street Journal

“A powerhouse of a book, a comprehensive and engaging study of the many ways that roads damage natural habitats.” — David Gessner, the Washington Post

“Beyond the staggering data and the constructive ideas, Crossings is an important book because it is timely: Road ecology is bleeding into the public consciousness at a moment when we can still act on its lessons.” ― Jonathan C. Slaght, the Atlantic

“Crossings provides a badly needed corrective…[D]eserves to make the reading lists of policymakers around the world.” ― Marina Bolotnikova, Vox

“Chronicles the enormous ecological damage caused by roadbuilding…Goldfarb guides the reader through an array of often heartbreaking stories, from the Los Angeles mountain lions so isolated by highways that they could inbreed themselves into extirpation to salmon populations smothered by tire pollution.” ― David Zipper, Bloomberg

“A deeply researched and compelling read…[O]ffers readers a look behind the scenes of a rich but underappreciated field of study that has the potential to affect our everyday lives.” ― Sarah Boon, Science

“Illuminating, witty…[Crossings is] an astonishingly deep pool of wonders.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred)

“Captivating…This one’s a winner.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)