Churchill is a Haida elder who decided in her 90s to give into her kids' and grandkids' demands that she write all this down and publish it. Her family helped her a lot with structure, but Churchill's voice remains very strong.

The first third of the book is an outline of Haida family structure and a history of her family back to her grandmother's generation, travelling between Haida Gwaii in Canada and Tlingit and Tsimshian territories in Alaska. Then follows a general section on the seasonal harvest cycle, and what baskets were used when, a detailed section on how to harvest and prepare spruce roots, cedar strips and materials for dyes, and finally some weaving instructions. It's aimed at a technical audience, and I was certainly helped in understanding by somewhat knowing the culture and ecosystem going in, though my knowledge of basket weaving is minimal. There's lots of pictures, and some diagrams, but if learning to weave, I'd definetely take a class.

I liked it a lot, and found it very informative, though I think some folks could find it a bit dry.