Skip to content

Medieval America with Kathleen Duval

May 20, 2026 · 50 min

Show notes

In this episode, Kathleen and Matt talk about vast early North America and all the peoples who inhabited it during (what Europeans call) the Middle Ages. There were cities, and then there weren’t. And the not having cities was better in a lot of ways, so we don’t need to cling to 19th-century stories about what’s “civilized” and what isn’t.



Guests

Kathleen DuVal is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Native Nations: A Millennium in North America as well as Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution and the U.S. history textbook Give Me Liberty! A history professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she has written for The Atlantic, Time magazine, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, and she appeared in the recent Ken Burns film The American Revolution. You can find more about her, including links to order signed copies of her books, at https://kathleenduval.net/



Credits



Find American Medieval Online



About Us

American Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. 


After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval.



Sponsors

Want to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://www.multitudeshows.com/ads 

  • As supporters of my Patreon know, I’m a big fan of cocktails. That’s why I’m happy to tell you about Shaker and Spoon. Shaker and Spoon is a subscription cocktail experience kit, each box including 3 original recipes from award-winning bartenders, with enough ingredients for 12 (or more) drinks. Well, except the alcohol – or non-alcohol, because everything is adaptable to zero-proof. If you’ve ever been interested in trying cocktails but didn’ t know how to start, Shaker and Spoon is great because it teaches you how to shake, stir, build flavors, and garnish. You’ll learn about bitters, syrups, and aromatics with handy recipe cards and notes on how to start thinking like a mixologist. Start now and get 10%. Just head over to shakerandspoon.com and use the code “AMM” at checkout to get 10% off. You’ll be “drinking with historians” in no time.
  • American Medieval is delighted to be partnering with Roundtable, at the 92nd street Y, in New York City, to offer a brand new online course – “The Medieval European Mind, in History and Literature.” The course will be entirely online and run for 4 sessions over 4 weeks, beginning on Thursday July 9. Live class sessions on Zoom will be from 2-3pm, but all sessions will be recorded. Each week, we’ll together think with an iconic medieval text, to talk about some aspect of the medieval - from the monsters of BEOWULF, to the monsters of the crusaders in Usama ibn Munqidh, to courtly love and King Arthur in Marie de France and SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT.  And if that isn’t exciting enough, if you sign up now, you can get 30% off the registration price. Just head to roundtable.org and enter the code “MEDIEVAL30” at checkout. Do it quick as space is limited. 


See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

All episodes of American Medieval

Settings

Display

Language

Decides which stations you see first on the home page.

History

Recently played stations and episodes and your latest searches are only stored in this browser.

Notifications

A short notice when a podcast you follow has a new episode. Turn off single podcasts with the bell on their page.

Account

Save favorites – in the app and on the website.

Keyboard shortcuts

/
Open search
Space
Play or pause
← →
In the player: back 15 s, forward 30 s (episodes) · in a row: next tile
↑ ↓
In a row: target within the tile
Home / End
In a row: first or last tile
Esc
Close window or menu
?
This overview
Now playing

Go to station page

Play next

    Add episodes with “Play next” – they play after the current episode.