Ithaka Press secures two books on warfare and peacekeeping for 2025

Ithaka Press has signed two new books about modern warfare and peacekeeping, due next year: How Wars End: A Hopeful History of Making Peace and The Art of War and Peace: The Changing Face of 21st Century Warfare.

Sarah Braybrooke, publishing director at Ithaka Press, acquired world English rights for How Wars End from Nina Sillem at Agentur Nina Sillem.

Written by activist, conflict analyst and former UN weapons inspector Jan van Aken, it is translated by Jo Heinrich and will be published in April 2025.

Ithaka Press, Bonnier Books UK’s literary imprint dedicated to narrative nonfiction and translation, said: “How Wars End addresses questions such as: Do boycotts work? Should arms sales be stopped? And what about supplying weapons to the good guys?

“From disinformation and dodgy dossiers to chemical weapons and murderous drones, he identifies why wars start and spiral... it lays out evidence-based strategies for moving from violent conflict to ceasefire, and from ceasefire to lasting peace.”

The Art of War and Peace is written by two leading military strategists, David Kilcullen and Greg Mills, with a foreword by Sir Nick Carter, former UK chief of the Defence Staff. It will be published in July 2025.

UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada and Southern Africa, were acquired from Aoife Lennon-Ritchie at the Lennon-Ritchie Agency.

The publisher said that the book “explains how the character of war has changed in recent times, as disinformation and rapid technological advances drive conflict in a chaotic, contested and multipolar world system”.

Ithaka Press added: “Drawing on their experience as policy advisers in conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia and across Africa, and on recent fieldwork in Israel, Ukraine, Ethiopia and Taiwan, the authors weigh up past lessons and offer predictions about the future of warfare and deterrence.” 

Braybrooke said: “The past few years have seen escalating conflicts explode into public consciousness in the UK, most notably in Ukraine and the Middle East. These two titles, drawn from international experts who seemingly operate at opposite ends of the spectrum – military strategy vs peacekeeping – together bring clarity and insight. Ultimately, these books’ authors share an interest in how we prevent and end violent conflict, and their expertise is what we need right now.”