Book excerpt: Revised and expanded to include fresh research, a discussion of recent interpretive trends, and a review of new literature since the publication of the first edition in 1990, The Free People - Li Gens Libres is a comprehensive history of the Métis community and national historic site of Batoche, Saskatchewan. The Free People is one of the few studies on Métis communities in western and northern Canada, and is the culmination of more than twenty years of documentary and field research as a participant-observer within the community.