Kathleen DuVal, professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been named the 2024 recipient of the Cundill History Prize. Administered by McGill University in Montreal and the Peter Cundill Foundation, the annual award recognizes the best book that embodies historical scholarship, originality, literary quality, and broad appeal.
Dr. DuVal’s award-winning book, Native Nations: A Millennium in North America (Random House, 2024), explores the 1,000-year history of the continent from the rise of ancient cities to present day. The book discusses how Indigenous peoples adapted to climate change and instability with innovation, forming smaller communities and egalitarian government structures with complex economies which spread across North America.
In 2003, Dr. DuVal began her career with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as an assistant professor of history. She achieved the rank of full professor in 2015 and currently holds faculty appointments with the American Indian and Indigenous studies program, the American studies program, the Latina/o studies program, and the Research Laboratories of Archaeology. In addition to her latest installment, she is the author of several books, including Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution (Random House, 2015).
Dr. DuVal is an honors graduate of Stanford University, where she majored in history. She holds a Ph.D. in United States history from the University of California, Davis.