Kathleen DuVal is a professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she teaches early American and American Indian history. Her previous work includes Independence Lost, which was a finalist for the George Washington Prize, and The Native Ground- Indians and Colonists in the Heart of the Continent. She is a coauthor of Give Me Liberty! and coeditor of Interpreting a Continent- Voices from Colonial America.
“A revelatory account of the power and influence of Indigenous peoples in North America.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “[A] prodigiously researched and enlightening study [that] recenters the past 1,000 years of Native North American history around the political power exercised by Indigenous governments.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “An exemplary model of how Native American history should be written.”—Brooke M. Bauer, author of Becoming Catawba “A page-turner . . .”—Anne F. Hyde, author of Born of Lakes and Plains “Even the most expert reader is likely to learn something new from DuVal’s deep research and carefully crafted narrative.”—Warren Eugene Milteer, Jr., author of Beyond Slavery’s Shadow “DuVal recounts this remarkable and fascinating story of power and endurance with sympathy, eloquence, and attention to all kinds of different people. A stunning achievement.”—Sarah M. S. Pearsall, author of Polygamy: An Early American History “Without minimizing the destructive effects of Euro-American colonialism, Kathleen DuVal has given us a vital new history leading to today’s more than five hundred Native nations in the United States.”—Andrés Reséndez, author of The Other Slavery “Native Nations provides a new way of understanding the long sweep of Native American history.”—Daniel K. Richter, author of Before the Revolution: America’s Ancient Pasts “In this sensible, lucid, and wide-ranging book, Kathleen DuVal recounts a sobering yet remarkable history of survival despite sweeping efforts to destroy Native peoples.”—Alan Taylor, author of American Republics: A Continental History, 1783–1850 “Native Nations is a sweeping history of Indigenous peoples in North America. While much of the history written about Native American people has focused on white experiences . . . Kathleen DuVal focuses on the growth and change of Indigenous polities and cultures.”—Anton Treuer, author of The Cultural Toolbox “Native Nations is a feat of both scholarship and storytelling. . . . DuVal introduces us to ancient Indigenous cities, eighteenth-century square grounds, and modern tribal capitals, showing how, against all odds, Native peoples defended their sovereignty and sustained their cultural traditions.”—Claudio Saunt, author of Unworthy Republic “Native Nations provides a much-needed corrective to the popular myth of Indigenous decline and disappearance.”—Christina Nicole Snyder, author of Great Crossings “In DuVal’s hands, the bleak picture that many readers have been shown of Native people is not inevitable or nonsensical—it is a product of a history of white Americans’ choices to wage a cultural war, when the military war did not succeed.”—Malinda Maynor Lowery, author of The Lumbee Indians “A triumph.”—Elizabeth N. Ellis, author of The Great Power of Small Nations