Candice Millard
New York Times bestselling historian and former National Geographic journalist
Kathleen DuVal
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, professor, and author of Native Nations
Photo Credit: Laura Wessell
Kathleen DuVal is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. An expert in early American and Native American history, DuVal is the author of Independence Lost and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Native Nations. In her informative and educational lectures, DuVal dives deeper into the subjects explored in her books, recounting the untold stories of early America’s marginalized voices, sharing new takes on the American Revolution, and centering Indigenous nations in our retelling of North American History.
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About Kathleen DuVal
A professor of history at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kathleen DuVal is an award-winning historian and expert in early America and Native American History. DuVal won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for History for her book Native Nations: A Millennium in North America, which chronicles one thousand years of Native history in North America. In her lectures, DuVal vividly recounts the multifaceted nature of the American Revolution, the enduring sovereignty and influence of Indigenous American civilizations before and after European colonization, and more.
The winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for History, DuVal’s newest book Native Nations: A Millennium in North America has been called “an essential American history” (The Wall Street Journal). Native Nations explores the rich history and enduring sovereignty of Indigenous American civilizations over a thousand years, highlighting their adaptability, resilience, and influence before and after European colonization. DuVal illustrates how the definitions of power and methods of exerting it evolved over time, though the influence of Native peoples remained steadfast and will continue to persist in the future. Native Nations is also the winner of The Bancroft Prize, The Cundill History Prize, and the Mark Lynton History Prize.
DuVal’s previous work Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution is the winner of the Journal of the American Revolution Book of the Year Award, winner of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Jersey History Prize, and finalist for the George Washington Book Prize. Independence Lost is a rich recounting of the untold stories of the American Revolution: the experiences of slaves, Native Americans, women, and British loyalists living on Florida’s gulf coast. DuVal introduces readers to the Mobile slave Petit Jean, the Chickasaw diplomat Payamataha, New Orleans merchant Oliver Pollock and his wife Margaret O’Brien Pollock, the Cajun refugee Amand Broussard, and more whose lives all shed light on pivotal events that occurred along the Gulf of Mexico and beyond, ultimately altering the course of North American history.
DuVal earned a BA from Stanford University and PhD from University of California, Davis. Her numerous achievements and accolades include a Guggenheim Fellowship in the Humanities, a National Humanities Center Fellowship, a postdoctoral Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship, book prizes from Journal of the American Revolution and the Frances S. Summersell Center for the Study of the South, and more. Additionally, she is an Elected Fellow of the American Antiquarian Society and the Society of American Historians. DuVal resides in and travels from North Carolina.
Contact us for more information about booking Kathleen DuVal for your next event.
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Speaking Topics
Native Nations: A Millennium in North America
Long before the colonization of North America, Indigenous Americans built diverse civilizations and adapted to a changing world. And, as Kathleen DuVal vividly recounts, when Europeans did arrive, Native nations maintained an upper hand for centuries. Kathleen DuVal shows how the definitions of power and means of exerting it shifted over time, but the sovereignty and influence of Native nations remained a constant—and will continue far into the future.
Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution
While the thirteen rebelling colonies came to blows with the British Empire over tariffs and parliamentary representation, the American Revolution also took place on the Gulf Coast of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Spanish forces clashed with Britain’s strained army to carve up the Gulf Coast, as both sides competed for allegiances with the powerful Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Muscogee Creek nations who inhabited the region. Meanwhile, enslaved men and women found opportunities to expand their freedoms during the war. Independence Lost reveals that individual motives counted as much as the ideals of liberty and freedom the Founders espoused.
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Books by Kathleen DuVal
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- 212 572-2013
- Kathleen DuVal travels from Durham, NC
Featured Title
Native Nations
2025 Pulitzer Prize-Winner
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