A monolingual Cree speaker from Onion Lake, Saskatchewan, Jim Ka-Nipitehtew was a highly respected orator. His discourses have great force and authority, and no speeches of similar scope or depth have ever been published in their original form. He speaks of his concerns for young people, and of the proper performances of rituals, and gives an account of the signing of Treaty Six. These are superb examples of authentic spoken Cree texts. They are presented in syllabics, with Roman orthography and English translation on facing pages, and a glossary.

Born in 1912, Alice Ahenakew was brought up in a traditional Cree community in north-central Saskatchewan. As a young woman, she married Andrew Ahenakew, a member of the prominent Saskatchewan family, who later became an Anglican clergyman and a prominent healer. Alice Ahenakew's personal reminiscences include stories of her childhood, courtship and marriage, as well as an account of the 1928 influenza epidemic an encounters with a windigo. The centrepiece of this book is the fascinating account of Andrew Ahenakewís bear vision, through which he received healing powers. Written in original Cree text with a full English translation, They Knew both Sides of Medicine also includes an introduction discussing the historical background of the narrative and its style and rhetorical structure, as well as a complete Cree-English glossary.