Native Nations

A Millennium in North America

By: Kathleen DuVal

Narrated by: Carolina Hoyos

A magisterial history of Indigenous North America that places the power of Native nations at its center, telling their story from the rise of ancient cities more than a thousand years ago to fights for sovereignty that continue today

“A feat of both scholarship and storytelling.”—Claudio Saunt, author of Unworthy Republic

Long before the colonization of North America, Indigenous Americans built diverse civilizations and adapted to a changing world in ways that reverberated globally. And, as award-winning historian Kathleen DuVal vividly recounts, when Europeans did arrive, no civilization came to a halt because of a few wandering explorers, even when the strangers came well armed.

A millennium ago, North American cities rivaled urban centers around the world in size. Then, following a period of climate change and instability, numerous smaller nations emerged, moving away from rather than toward urbanization. From this urban past, egalitarian government structures, diplomacy, and complex economies spread across North America. So, when Europeans showed up in the sixteenth century, they encountered societies they did not understand—those having developed differently from their own—and whose power they often underestimated.

For centuries afterward, Indigenous people maintained an upper hand and used Europeans in pursuit of their own interests. In Native Nations, we see how Mohawks closely controlled trade with the Dutch—and influenced global markets—and how Quapaws manipulated French colonists. Power dynamics shifted after the American Revolution, but Indigenous people continued to command much of the continent’s land and resources. Shawnee brothers Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa forged new alliances and encouraged a controversial new definition of Native identity to attempt to wall off U.S. ambitions. The Cherokees created institutions to assert their sovereignty on the global stage, and the Kiowas used their power in the west to regulate the passage of white settlers across their territory.

In this important addition to the growing tradition of North American history centered on Indigenous nations, Kathleen DuVal shows how the definitions of power and means of exerting it shifted over time, but the sovereignty and influence of Native peoples remained a constant—and will continue far into the future.

*This audiobook includes a downloadable PDF that contains select photographs, illustrations, and maps from the book.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2024 Kathleen DuVal (P)2024 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Both majestic in scope and intimate in tone. . . . No single volume can adequately depict the gamut of Indigenous cultures, but DuVal's comes close. . . . Native Nations belongs on the same shelf as Blackhawk's magisterial work and Charles Mann's 1491.”—Hamilton Cain, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“An indispensable guide to the epic history of Native North America.”—Caroline Dodds Pennock, author of On Savage Shores

“Conducting us skillfully on this journey through a perilous history fraught with colonial violence, DuVal brings the reader finally to a hopeful and resurgent Native present.”—Nicole Eustace, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Covered with Night

A bit too long

I understand that the topic of Indian history in the Americas is probably more than can be put into one book, However, I felt the author was repeating themselves many times and the content could have been condensed.

I appreciate the fact that the author covered the evolution of the legal system in its interaction with American Indians.

Kudos to the narrator for the pronunciation of many unfamiliar names and terms.

An outstanding survey with many surprises

I loved the particularity of her story. And how sensitive she was to gender issues. I have read a good many books about AmerIndians and this is the first to make a seamless presentation with European exploration. And settlement. It’s a great book. I working on trying to think NATIVES.

Eye opening. Liberating.

Inconvenient truths that can free us from our entrenched epistemological ignorance. Grateful for all those whose labor and insight had made this work possible.

It’s sad

Of course what happened to First Nations peoples is bad…very bad. But my title refers to the book. It is not scholarship. It uses bits of scholarship, often cherry-picked, to feed a polemic which chooses emotion and supposition over reason, logic and evidence. One just-so story contradicts the next. Even manages to slip in First Nations support and tradition of trans ideology. Gotta love those woke profs. This book doesn’t help the cause! PS previous book: Independence Lost is very good and deserves a read.