Work as Art explores the everyday lives of independent loggers. The author throws out the stereotypes of loggers as callous exploiters, showing instead loggers as hard working, community-minded individuals concerned about the future of the resources on which they depend for their livelihoods. Individuals selected from the logging community of Orofino, Idaho, were interviewed by the author to explore their private lives, community activities, and daily work patterns and attitudes. Dr.

James-Duguid contends that logging is an art in the community, not merely a job, and this is expressed in the residents' concern for ethics and aesthetics in their lives.

Various aspects of life in Orofino, a small, integrated community on the Clearwater river in northern Idaho, are brought into focus by the author. As well as examining the loggers' working world, Dr. James-Duguid talked to the town elders, contemporary loggers, and residents involved in putting on the annual Lumberjack Days festival. Throughout the book, individual lives are set against the environments in which individuals enact their various roles.

Photographs of Orofino, logging, and residents add another dimension to the written portrayal of the lives of independent loggers.