Steeped in history, ethnography and reportage, THE SHAMAN'S COAT tells the story of the indigenous people of Siberia. This vast expanse of land, much of it barely populated jungle and forest, has a population of just one million. Medieval Russians thought the people who lived amidst these unnerving wastes froze to the ground in winter, spent the summers at sea lest their skins split, and had mouths on top of their heads, eating by placing their hats and shrugging their shoulders. One of the world's great unexplored peoples, they have a colonial history as shocking as that of the American Indians or the Aboriginies, and live in some of the world's harshest conditions. Until the 1950s they had no written language; the little we know about them is gleaned from outsiders' accounts. Split between 30 different nationalities including the Buryats, Tatars, Inuits, and Chukchi, Siberians had a special closeness to the land. They believed nature possesses animating spirits to be worshipped, placated or guarded against and Shamans performed appropriate ceremonies.