This nearly folio-sized book of 4¼ pounds is aptly subtitled, given the history of the major study and conservation programs directed toward this species since the 1940s. A prologue tells of the authors’ first experience with California Condors and expresses the book’s goal: "to give the reader an appreciation of both the basic biology of the condor and the dynamics of condor conservation from a viewpoint mainly inside the conservation and research program."
The book is then organized into six “parts,” the first of which is “Historical and Background Matters.” Chapter 1, on “Perspectives,” summarizes the species’ natural history and compares it with that of the Andean Condor and several Old World vultures. Chapter 2 provides an excellent account of the ceremonial and other uses made of California and Andean Condors by native peoples within their ranges.