“Mr. Sayles writes with such verve and colloquial humor that even the most esoteric issues brighten with fascination….Mr. Sayles superbly dramatizes the man-made disruptions in his novel’s small pond, but in a book motored by anarchy the most unsettling section occurs when the boom goes bust, bringing “Yellow Earth” to a surprisingly quiet conclusion: the depiction of a modern-day ghost town.”

Wall Street Journal

“Filmmaker Sayles…is also a highly imaginative short story writer with a sure ear for dialogue, a keen eye for group dynamics, a flair for quickly establishing intriguing mise-en-scènes, and the ability to animate a great spectrum of flinty characters…Sayles expresses his compassion and concern for those who struggle with poverty and prejudice, seeking both to provoke and entertain.”

Booklist

“Sayles’s scrawl achieves a sensational pace. It is the impressive result of a comprehensive portrayal of all four stages and an incredible amount of layering, symbolism, and ideology. There is an urgency to Yellow Earth, and Sayles wastes no words….The magic of Yellow Earth is that it doesn’t feel didactic or like an overdone parable. Rather, Sayles fills his work with contradictions. The competing perspectives and ideologies manifest through the characters’ colloquial conversations, inner dialogue, and motivations.”

Chicago Review of Books

“John Sayles has created a tale of people and place bewitched and bedeviled by money and power, ultimately convinced to join in the destruction of their lands and their lives. Not only is his story believable, it could easily be a work of non-fiction, so accurately does he portray the possibilities of an energy extraction project on the lives of men and women in the US heartland.”

“Many writers can render credible characters in a credible world, but only a few can do so with a warmth and a humor that is as wise as it is true.”

Chicago Sun-Times

“[Sayles’s] ancestry is more like the reportorial vigor Jack London on one side and a little of the sweet impressionism of Stephen Crane on the other.”

The New York Times

“John Sayles is one of the most important public historians of our generation.”

William Cronon, President of the American Historical Association

“John Sayles is the very paradigm of the contemporary independent filmmaker. By raising much of the funding for his films himself, Sayles functions more independently than most directors, and he has used his freedom to write and produce films with a distinctive personal style and often clearly expressed political positions. From The Return of the Secaucus Seven to Sunshine State, his films have consistently expressed progressive political positions on issues including race, gender, sexuality, class, and disability.”

University of Illinois Press

“Sayles is a terrific writer. His breathtaking precision and attention to detail can make E.L. Doctorow’s historical novels look puny and slapdash by comparison. His ability to map the intersections of scores of plots and hundreds of fictional and real- life characters is truly stunning.”

Adam Langer, San Francisco Chronicle