But he is also of Polish-Lithuanian ancestry, so another part of his genetic and cultural makeup comes from the dark forests of Central Europe — a region still haunted by the feral brutality of nature, and by the blood-drenched horror of its human history. Much of this double-barreled torment is evident in Yankevich’s subject matter and style, where the harsh Appalachian coal fields and the hotly contested Germano-Slavic marches of Silesia and Eastern Prussia come together with an eloquence that can be frightening.