Yellow Earth

By: John Sayles

Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann

On the banks of the Missouri River, the town of Yellow Earth and the Three Nations reservation prepare for an invasion - the ground beneath their feet is loaded with readily frackable shale oil and the minions of corporate energy are rushing to extract it. Tribal Chairman Harleigh Kildeer welcomes Big Oil with open arms, while county sheriff Will Crowder has to deal with the overnight influx of roughnecks, truckers, drug dealers, and sex workers.

©2020 John Sayles (P)2020 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

The film is already in my head!

Wonderfully woven story about oil drilling and fracking, as well as lives of the people both on and off the Three Nations Indian reservation. Sayles does for North Dakota what he's done in film for Texas (Lone Star), Florida (Sunshine State), West Virginia (Matewan), Colorado (Silver City), Alaska (Limbo).... which is to bring to life the land and the people in complex stories without easy answers, but maintaining a core integrity. Sayles is great in bringing out the humanity of a situation, even when it's through the eyes of a prairie dog. As I listened, I began casting the film in my head. Some of the standard Sayles troupe and a few new members. I hope it happens!

Captivating, 2 times longer than necessary

Great story with detail by a phenemonal talent. Rich with characters and sub plots... but there's too many characters and subplots.
The ending is especially flat. The narration was weak.