In Yellow Earth, John Sayles introduces an epic cast of
characters, weaving together narratives of competing agendas and
worldviews with lyrical dexterity, insight, and wit.
When
rich layers of shale oil are discovered beneath the town of Yellow
Earth, all hell breaks loose. Locals, oil workers, service workers,
politicians, law enforcement, and get-rich-quick opportunists—along
with an earnest wildlife biologist—commingle and collide as the
population of the town triples overnight. Harleigh Killdeer, chairman
of the tribal business council of the neighboring Three Nations
reservation, entertains visions of “sovereignty by the barrel”
and joins forces with a fast-talking entrepreneur. From casino
dealers to activists and high school kids, everyone in the region is
swept up in the unsparing wave of an oil boom.
Sayles’
masterful storytelling draws an arc from the earliest exploitation of
this land and its people all the way to twenty-first-century
privatization schemes. Through the intertwining lives of its
characters, Yellow Earth lays bare how the profit motive
erodes human relationships, as well as our living planet. The fate of
Yellow Earth serves as a parable for our times.