Hamline School of Law Professor Emeritus Howard Vogel recently contributed to this year's recipient of the Minnesota Book Award for Minnesota books, Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota, by Gwen Westerman and Bruce White and published by Minnesota Historical Society Press. Much of the focus on the Dakota people in Minnesota rests on the tragic events of the 1862 U.S.–Dakota War and the resulting exile that sent the majority of the Dakota to prisons and reservations beyond the state’s boundaries. But the true depth of the devastation of removal cannot be understood without a closer examination of the history of the Dakota people and their deep cultural connection to the land that is Minnesota. Drawing on oral history interviews, archival work, Mni Sota Makoce tells a detailed history of the Dakota people in their traditional homelands for hundreds of years prior to exile. Westerman is professor of English and Humanities at Minnesota State University in Mankato. White is author of We Are at Home: Pictures of the Ojibwe People.