Fascinating and atmospheric story. Rich in historical detail.
Many thanks to History Through Fiction and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

It was very weird to read a reimagining of the Dakota War told by a white man. If I wanted someone to unpack this history, it would be a Dakota person. I got about half way in and thoughy to good it and… yup.

The story is good, the research is great. I found it compelling. It just irked me a little to have this story told from this POV.

Mustful brings the tensions of mid-nineteenth century America to life in this novel of the Minnesotan frontier. Told through the dual perspectives of Samuel and Waabi until their paths finally cross during a war between Indigenous Americans and white settlers, Mustful draws on the complications of frontier experience to build his narrative. Driven heavily by the characters, their struggles, and relationships, Mustful personalizes the conflict and gives it a human face to draw readers into the historical events and the narrative. Readers follow Waabi as he navigates life before the arrival of more white settlers through the outbreak of conflict, while readers meet Samuel in New England with his family before they choose to move west and seek a new life and financial stability on the frontier. The characters are remarkably realistic, with their relationships (not all of which are positive) with other characters building their personalities across the novel. The minor characters also play a key role in the formation of conflict and relationships, while the setting of what is now the state of Minnesota plays a massive role in the story. The land and location have very different cultural meanings for Waabi, Samuel, and the other minor characters, and this adds to the overall atmosphere and narrative of the novel.

Love this, I did not and still don’t know much about this period of time in history. Reading this has given me a spark to immerse myself more into this genre and subject in particular. Thank you for my copy of this book because I loved it but I would never have chosen this

A very rich and vivid account of the relationship between the "whites" and the Indians.. Very heartfelt story ... and I loved the 2 boys that form a friendship amongst this turmoil between the 2 races!

Reclaiming Mni Sota

It is always interesting to speculate what our society would be like now, if key events had happened differently. For example, what would have occurred if the Santee band of Sioux Indians had won the U.S,-Dakota War of 1862? According to this version of possible events….Well, maybe you should just read this book and find out.

What actually happened was that only a relatively small number of the starved Sioux revolted against the white settlers. It could be argued that the conditions that led to the starvation were the result of a number of treaties being broken, and the Sioux not being able to live on the land they were given. After the revolt had been stopped and 38 warriors had been executed, all of the Sioux were expelled to reservations further South.

There is a saying that the winners of wars get to write the history, This alternative history is eye-opening.

Its really a interesting book.
Fit to historical fans.
I could not enjoy it but has a good prose and characters.

I was lucky enough to have been given a paperback copy of Reclaiming Mni Sota by author Colin Mustful in exchange for an unsolicited honest review.

Reclaiming Mni Soto: An Alternate History of the U.S. - Dakota War of 1862 was a very well written historical fiction novel by Colin Mustful. He brilliantly reimagined the events and outcome of the Dakota War of 1862. I had known little to nothing about this tragic war before I read this compelling book. It was a time in U.S. history when struggling white men and their families decided to travel west to seek new lives and better opportunities in the Minnesota territory. Samuel Copeland’s family was one of those families who left their home in Vermont and made the long and dangerous journey to make a new life In Minnesota. As Samuel Copeland and his family began their journey across the United States to Minnesota, a young boy, WasabishkiMakwa, known as Waabi to all who knew him, a member of the Ojibwe tribe, became another victim along with the members of his tribe of the false promises made by the United States government. The people of the Ojibwe tribe were promised that they would never have to leave their land and homes if they allowed the U.S. government to mine the copper found on their lands. In exchange for the copper, the U.S. government promised the Ojibwe people that they could stay on the land they resided on and that they would give them food, clothing, ammunition and anything else they needed for survival. Now they were reneging on that promise. A representative of the United States government informed the people of the Ojibwe tribe that “the Legislative Assembly of the newly created Minnesota Territory determined that the Lake Superior Ojibwe living upon the ceded territory should be removed to the unceded territory.” Both Samuel and Waabi would be forced to fight for the land where they lived. The Dakota War of 1862 was long, violent and difficult for all involved.

Reclaiming Mni Soto was the story of both Samuel and Waabi told in alternating chapters. Both Samuel and Waabi lost their fathers when they were young and in tragic circumstances that ended up haunting both boys throughout their lives. Eventually, their paths crossed in a way that was both meaningful yet painfully tragic. Colin Mustful’s research for Reclaiming Mni Sota was impeccable. He allowed his readers to glimpse a “what if” situation. Although it never happened, Colin Mustful gave his readers a glimpse into what might had been if only the Ojibwa and Dakota tribes had put their differences aside and fought together to persevere their land. If they had fought the United States Army together, history might have been completely different. Reclaiming Mni Sota was that story.

Reclaiming Mni Soto was a very thought provoking book. It really made me reflect upon the way Ingenious people were taken advantage of by the United States government all those years ago. I can not even begin to imagine how the Ingenious people feel about the way they were treated and all that was taken away from them. Reclaiming Mni Soto made me think about those things in a deeper sense. As a nation, we must fight harder to educate all and provide a better understanding about people that are different from us. Racism, discrimination, antisemitism and ignorance must be eliminated from our lives. Hopefully, someday we will find a way for that to happen. I really enjoyed reading Reclaiming Mni Sota: An Alternate History of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 by Colin Mustful and highly recommend it. Publication is set for October 10, 2023.

This book, an alternate history of the removal of indigenous people from the Midwest, was one I was really eager to read. It is well-researched, and the inclusion of native language and settler-colonialism attitudes of that time and place are excellent. The second half of the book was brilliant, and the connections between Samuel and Waabi was both unexpected and heartwarming…and heartbreaking. I particularly appreciated the final chapter as a look at “what if…”

That said, the first third to half of the book seemed to drag. Samuel’s time in Vermont seemed, and still seems, totally superfluous to the story. I didn’t like his father or his mother, and neither one seemed particularly strong or sensible. Samuel seemed more of an adult than either of them. As for Thomas, he was kind of a jerk. The other siblings were sort of background dressing and didn’t do much to improve the story. While others might disagree, to me, that portion of the book was tedious. Well-written for certain, but I just wasn’t invested in that part of the story.

As the second half of the book unfolds, and the horrors that the people are enduring play out, it is painful to remember that this actually happened to the indigenous peoples of America. From south to north, from east to west, they were forced from their lands, herded up, mistreated, and their culture, language, and way of life, stripped from them. So many were killed, all in the name of “civilization.” And this happened all because they wanted to continue the life they had lived for tens of thousands of years, while newcomers came along and decided they had more of a right to the land than the people who had been its stewards for 25,000 years.

The book is really excellent, and if I could read it solely on the second house, or at least the second half Waabi’s story for background, I would. The last half of the book is five stars for certain.

Reclaiming Mni Sota tells the story of Samuel ( a white American) and Wabbi (a Native American).
Samuel was a teenager in 1859 when he along with his family left Vermont for a new life in Minnesota, but it is not as easy a life as initially thought. He joins the Union Army after the death of his father in order to protect his younger brother Thomas. On the other hand, Wabbi was a boy when his father died at the hands of the Americans due to their negligence at Sandy Lake he left his home seeking a new way of life. Their choices and the path they took led to a War that was inevitable and unavoidable.

Two cultures met in Minnesota-one striving to maintain its homeland and traditions, another trying to create a life of freedom, prosperity, and abundance. This was an interesting concept, so much so, one has to think about how this country was settled. There were many other Indian wars among the pioneers as they moved West. What would our country look like if everything was settled in the alternative? Would it be a better world today? Something to contemplate, even if it's too late! My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a well-researched historical novel that looks at the pivotal US-Dakota War of 1862 through the eyes of two main characters, the white settler Samuel and the Ojibwe man WasabishkiMakwa (known as Waabi).

The main action occurs in the last third of the book, in a fertile area of Native land now called Minnesota. Most of the action takes place during the early 1860s, when indigenous groups rose up to resists more exploitation and forced evictions. Samuel has fled with his poverty-stricken family from Vermont to settle in the area, ignoring the fact the land already belonged to various Native nations. Unable to provide for his family, he joins the US army and is caught up in the war against the Dakota and Ojibwe. Waabi has seen the lies and greed of white settlers all his life, and wants nothing more than a return to a traditional way of life. Both men are sickened by the killing and violence.

In reality the Dakota and Lakota uprising was lost, and 38 Dakota men were hanged in the largest execution in US history for their part in the rebellion. This is an alternate history, however, where the Dakota, Lakota and Ojibwe successfully come together to defend their lands and cultures and throw the white settlers off their land.

This is the short of historical fiction that you read for context. It lacks dramatic tension but is full of details about both Native and white lives of the time. I found both main characters somewhat stilted at times, and would have appreciated the development of the minor female characters. It is, however, an honest and well-documented attempt (the extensive bibliography at the end is worth exploring) to set the historical record a little straighter. Given the intense censorship around what is taught now around American history, the non-Native author is to be commended for this.

This is a fascinating alternate history of the US - Dakota War of 1862. Historic events are cleverly used to tell the stories of Samuel (the white man) and Waabi (the native Ojibwe) who are growing up and finding out how the world works and how they fit in.

Waabi is striving to protect his homeland and maintaining his traditions, and Samuel is trying to create a life of freedom, prosperity, and abundance with his family by relocating from Vermont to Minnesota to settle on land previously used by the Ojibwe and rivalling groups.

Informative, eye-opening and thought-provoking, especially for someone like me who's never heard about this part of American history as it just wasn't part of my European school curriculum.

I will admit I went into reading this with minimal awareness of this tragic period in history- and, realistically, mostly of the narrative told from the white/ conqueror’s perspective, which is all we were ever taught in school. Something I definitely want to address and rectify. So I appreciate the perspective provided in this work of historical fiction, which seeks to provide a more balanced view as it works towards an outcome skewed away from what actually happened and more towards somewhere between Native American victory and peaceful coexistence. If only. This definitely leaves the reader with much to ponder.

Thank you Colin Mustful, History Through Fiction, and NetGalley and for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

Reclaiming Mini Sota weaves of a story of two individuals who come from different backgrounds. While they search for meaningful life, their paths cross. It’s a sad time of war where they stand on opposite sides. Despite that there is something that unites them.

In 1850, Waabi, from Ojibwe tribe, is ten when his father takes him hunting for the first time, when his people experience famine for the first time in his native Minnesota. He is taught to respect the land and its natural resources; to take only what is needed from the land for them to survive. Soon after, he experiences the first unjust treatment from the hands of white people, when they’re being relocated to a different piece of land. This results in anger growing among Indians.

In 1859, Samuel is fifteen when tragedy strikes his family in his native Vermont. When his family struggles to survive, he learns about the frontier land that’s open in the middle west. In the new territory, one of their encounters with the Indians teaches them that they’ve taken more from the land than they should have, and ends tragically. The life in the new territory turns out to be pretty challenging. Samuel needs to make another hard decision in his life.

This fascinating story brings two interesting characters that show how we can live peacefully despite our differences; respect. It is steeped in history that doesn’t overwhelm the story. It is engaging from the first pages and holds to the very end.

Source: ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to History Through Fiction Publishers and NetGalley for this free ARC in return for my honest review.

Colin Mustful has done a very good job in writing what he calls an "alternate" historical fiction novel. Not revisionism, but rather a thoughtful book that turns history upside down.. At its heart, this is a story of two young men. Waabi is seen as a young Ojibwa Indian who goes to a missionary school and whose family tries to live in accordance with the peace treaties. Samuel, is the son of a Vermont family who moves to Minnesota after the promise of free land and great prospects for prosperity. We follow these two through alternating chapters of the book and the author gives us a very good and sympathetic backstory for each young man and their respective families. Samuel's family relies on government claims about life in Minnesota, while Waabi's family does the same with regard to the numerous peace treaties which move the Ojibwa tribes out of their traditional lands and onto smaller and smaller areas, as well as the hardships they encountered due to decreased allotments of money and food from the government. Something has to give and this leads us to the Dakota Wars of 1862 in which Waabi now becomes part of a Native American Army and Samuel is in the US military - something neither of these two really wanted but are put their by circumstances beyond their control.
I will be the first to admit that while I knew a lot about numerous battles and wars in the midwest and southwest, the Dakota Wars is something that I know very little about, but despite that it is a book about humanity and lack there of by both sides. Both young men and their families are innocent victims in this War. The author has given us an authentic and well thought out book. Yes, it is alternative history, but the focus is on the individuals and not so much the reversal of history. Also we see natural resources come into play as both the Ojibwa people and Samuel's family had a tragic episode over who has the right to cranberries grown in that territory, the epilogue fast forwards to today where a lawsuit once again tries to figure out who has the right to the cranberries grown in that region. A very good, and very easy read that is hard to put down until we come to the very end!

Waabi is a Dakota living in the land his people call Mni Sota. In 1850, the white settlers were part of Waabi's life for a while. The settlers have asked to mine on the Dakota's land for resources in return for winter provisions. One year, the government officials were late with the provisions, causing Waabi's father and many others to perish. Waabi struggles with the changes happening around him, especially as the United States goes to War against itself. Samuel Copeland and his family lived a peaceful life in Vermont, but after an injury to his father's leg, they go into debt. When Samuel hears of free land in the new state of Minnesota, he convinces his family to relocate. Living in Minnesota isn't as easy as the Copeland's imagined and tensions soon arise over resources with the settlers and the Dakota who never gave up their land. As War rages between the North and South, another revolt is rising as the Ojibwe and Dakota combine forces to reclaim their land and attack Fort Snelling. Together, Samuel and Waabi find a way to fight for a better future.

Reclaiming Mni Sota is an alternate historical fiction story recounting the Dakota War of 1862. The author is clearly passionate about this time period and while not a Native American himself, has put in a lot of effort into bringing their story to light and to think about what would have happened if the outcome of the war was flipped. With alternating points of view of both Samuel, a white settler in Minnesota and Waabi, a Native Dakota, the struggle of both groups to survive with one another is apparent. As the characters say, it is a war that was put in motion long before the men fighting were born. Though from different backgrounds, Waabi and Samuel are both young men trying to find their way in a quickly changing world. They both carry anger and grief from incidents stemming from interactions with the other's culture. However, they both find killing unfulfilling. I was intrigued by Waabi and Samuel's alliance to fight for what they thought would help them move forward. With an alternate ending to the war, with Mni Sota Makoce becoming a Sovereign Independent Nation, we are reminded of the ways we have come to own land and be stewards of that land as well as what land ownership means in modern times.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

"We are like two leaves fallen from separate trees but blown by the same wind."
"I will help protect your brother, the one you carry with you...who gave you the words found in 'Leaves of Grass'."

Wasabishki Makwa (Waabi), age ten, had never hunted. His father, Giizhigoon told his son, "if we are steadfast together, the Great Spirit will end our famine." The winter camp of five families (near Bad River, Minnesota in 1850) had been surviving on rice, blueberries and seeds. After shooting a deer with bow and arrow, Giizhigoon explained, "We do not kill the deer...we allow the deer to give itself to us...We are grateful for the deer of the forest...we ask for happiness and long life, here, where our ancestors are buried...where our fathers and grandfathers, mothers and grandmothers, lived before us, free from the dangers of war, protected from the growing presence of the white man and his hunger for our land." Survival required taking only what was needed from the land and its animals and providing an offering of tobacco for the gifts received.

Starting in the 1850's, the United States Government Treaties signed with the Dakota Sioux ceded vast acreage of Indian territory to the U.S. in exchange for money and supplies. The land was sold for pennies and a promise. Money and supplies earmarked for the Dakota was siphoned off by Indian agents who were in charge of distributing annuity payments to those now on reservations. By 1862, funds were often diverted to coffers to fight the Civil War. In August 1862, a clash of two cultures, the U.S.- Dakota War, would be fought in Minnesota. Both Waabi and Samuel's families endured the kind of conditions and hostilities leading to the conflict.

In 1850, an entourage of canoes traveled to Sandy Lake, Minnesota Territory to receive their yearly family annuity payments. The government agent who promised payment in October did not arrive until late November. Canoe travel home was made impossible by frozen waterways. Many Dakota died, including Waabi's father.

Samuel Copeland's family lived in Londonberry, Vermont. The family was just scraping by when his father was injured at the sawmill. Samuel, a young teenager, worked hard to ensure the family's survival. A stranger who came to town handed out flyers about frontier land, free land in the middle west. Millions of acres were open for settlement. All one had to do was claim it! Was this really unencumbered land?

After a grueling wagon journey to Minnesota, Samuel's family found an expansive parcel of unsurveyed land near a shallow creek. A nearby cranberry marsh would provide fruit for the winter with enough to sell at market in the spring. The cranberries, according to the Dakota, were not theirs to take.

Told in alternating chapters, Waabi and Samuel, each share their perspective leading up to, and including, the U.S.-Dakota War. "Reclaiming Mni Sota" by Colin Mustful is a reimagining of the outcome of the war, a look at Manifest Destiny challenging a traditional, ecological way of life. What would Minnesota look like if the Indians had won? Author Mustful presents a sensitive, empathetic perspective as seen from both sides of the conflict. A highly recommended read.