This year, both the winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in History and the sole finalist are alumni of the UC Davis History Department Ph.D. program. The Pulitzer Prize is one of the most prestigious honors in journalism, literature and music composition.
“In history, we are proud of all our alumni, graduate and undergraduate, who go on to do such amazing things in the world,” said Gregory Downs, professor and chair of the History Department. “To see a UC Davis history Ph.D. win the Pulitzer Prize in History and then another be named the only finalist for the award was extraordinary.”
Kathleen DuVal, a Ph.D. alum of the UC Davis History Department, won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for History with her book Native Nations: A Millennium in North America (Penguin Random House). DuVal is currently the Bowman and Gordon Gray Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Her book recounts the resilience of Indigenous Americans at the arrival of the first Europeans and the history of the many communities living in North America over the past 1,000 years. DuVal’s book adds to the growing tradition of North American history centered on Indigenous nations.
The Pulitzer Prize Committee described her book as, “a panoramic portrait of Native American nations and communities over a thousand years, a vivid and accessible account of their endurance, ingenuity and achievement in the face of conflict and dispossession.”
Seth Rockman, an associate professor of history at Brown University, was named sole finalist for his book Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery (University of Chicago). His book offers a layered analysis of the manufacture and movement of tools and other everyday products between the U.S. North and South and how they created a shared economy.
“Primarily these honors speak to Professor Duval's and Professor Rockman's incredible work, work ethic, and commitment to scholarship and writing,” said Downs, “but we take pride in the validation of what we know is true: our students are among the very best in the world, and they are changing the world.”
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Ph.D. Alum Kathleen DuVal Wins Pulitzer Prize
Kathleen DuVal, Ph.D. ’01, won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in History for her book Native Nations: A Millennium in North America (Random House, 2024). The announcement comes in addition to other prestigious awards DuVal has already received for the book, including the Bancroft Prize, the Cundill History Prize and the Mark Lynton History Prize.
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