History professor wins Cundill History Prize

Kathleen DuVal, professor in the history department of the UNC College of Arts and Sciences, is the 2024 winner of the Cundill History Prize.

The prize is annually awarded to a work of outstanding history writing and is open to books from anywhere in the world, as well as works translated into English. It comes with a $75,000 prize, the largest purse for a nonfiction English book.

DuVal was recognized for her new book, “Native Nations: A Millennium in North America.” Jurors called it a sweeping 1,000-year history of the continent, from the rise of ancient cities to present day, which reframes readers’ understanding of the period with Indigenous power and sovereignty at its center.

The announcement was made last month at a ceremony in Montreal.

“One of the most wonderful things about ‘Native Nations’ by Kathleen DuVal is that it brings unexpected and, to many readers, unknown aspects of that story to prominence,” wrote Rana Mitter, chair of the Cundill Prize jury. “She does this by bringing in historians and analysts of the Indigenous American experience from within their own scholarship, bringing the story to the forefront of our wider understanding.”