Yellow Earth

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’s 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.

This catalogue of pre-Han pottery presents a variety of regional ancient cultures and reveals China's early civilizations through 63 fine examples of ceramic artworks from the Neolithic period through the Western Zhou dynasty drawn from the renowned Meiyintang Collection. Clearly outlining the different regions and charateristics of the ceramic-producing cultures of ancient China, this volume includes information on newly excavated materials and discussion on how these Neolithic and Bronze age cultures laid the foundations for China's later artistic and cultural achievements.

This is the first text to address British Chinese culture. It explores British Chinese cultural politics in terms of national and international debates on the Chinese diaspora, race, multiculture, identity and belonging, and transnational ‘Chineseness’. Collectively, the essays look at how notions of ‘British Chinese culture’ have been constructed and challenged in the visual arts, theatre and performance, and film, since the mid-1980s. They contest British Chinese invisibility, showing how practice is not only heterogeneous, but is forged through shifting historical and political contexts; continued racialization, the currency of Orientalist stereotypes and the possibility of their subversion; the policies of institutions and their funding strategies; and dynamic relationships with transnationalisms. The book brings a fresh perspective that makes both an empirical and theoretical contribution to the study of race and cultural production, whilst critically interrogating the very notion of British Chineseness.

Anthropologists, archaeologists, geographers, and historians chronicle the evolution of Chinese culture and history from antiquity to present times

Few aspects of American military history have been as vigorously debated as Harry Truman's decision to use atomic bombs against Japan. In this carefully crafted volume, Michael Kort describes the wartime circumstances and thinking that form the context for the decision to use these weapons, surveys the major debates related to that decision, and provides a comprehensive collection of key primary source documents that illuminate the behavior of the United States and Japan during the closing days of World War II. Kort opens with a summary of the debate over Hiroshima as it has evolved since 1945. He then provides a historical overview of thye events in question, beginning with the decision and program to build the atomic bomb. Detailing the sequence of events leading to Japan's surrender, he revisits the decisive battles of the Pacific War and the motivations of American and Japanese leaders. Finally, Kort examines ten key issues in the discussion of Hiroshima and guides readers to relevant primary source documents, scholarly books, and articles.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of grassland ecosystems based on publications by Chinese scholars. It offers an up-to-date review of the recent advances in grassland research in China, discusses the climatic and physical conditions governing the grasslands, describes their types and distribution, and introduces a new classification scheme for grassland ecosystems. Further, it details the plant, animal, and microbial compositions of each grassland ecosystem type, examining the above and below ground relationships between phytomass, vegetation succession, and past/current management practices with a particular focus on the steppes in China. It also includes references that are only available in the Chinese language. This scientifically rigorous book offers insights into knowledge gaps for the scientific community and identifies pressing issues facing practitioners of grassland ecology and management. It can be used as a textbook for undergraduate and graduate students in ecology, environmental science, natural resource management, agriculture, and other relevant fields, and is also a valuable reference resource for researchers studying drylands in China or around the globe.