Definitely more on the dry academic history side, this one was interesting but I definitely stalled on it and read other books for a few weeks. There is a smattering of HBC history in here but the focus is the archives so there's more history of goings on at the London Office rather than that of the forts and fur trading posts in Canada. If you've got a strong interest in records management and archives, this might be intriguing. There's also some good bits for those interested in North American history and the influence of the HBC but those readers might be better served by prudent skimming. ( )