Pan Mac triumphs in three-way auction for Wright’s ‘bold’ look at the brain and war

Pan Macmillan has landed Warhead: How the Brain Shapes War and War Shapes the Brain from Nicholas Wright in a three-way auction.

Publishing director Mike Harpley acquired British Commonwealth rights from Jaime Marshall at the J P Marshall Literary Agency. It will be published in May 2024. 

As a neuroscientist and doctor who advises the Pentagon Joint Staff, Wright takes the latest research to explore why humans fight, win and lose wars. The publisher added: “Every human brain is built to win – or at least survive – a fight, and by understanding how we deal with conflict, we can better comprehend ourselves and better make sense of the endless parade of battles, war and generals that have dominated human history.”

Warhead will give a “bold, new framework to interrogate our past and peer into the future”, providing “much-needed answers to confronting today’s increasingly antagonistic world”. 

Harpley said: “I love to publish books that provide a new perspective on the world around us and Warhead does. We are living in an increasingly bellicose world and we need new tools to understand how we can survive this new reality and prosper. Nick is one of the smartest people I have met and his book will provide just that.”

Wright added: “When I was 10 years old I won a voucher to buy any book. I chose the classic Pan book Defeat in the West by Milton Shulman. I have been reading Pan Macmillan books for as long as I can remember, and anyone who has video-called with me in recent years could have seen abundant evidence of that on my bookshelves. So it’s a thrill to be working with Mike Harpley and the excellent Pan Mac team, who understood immediately what I am trying to achieve with my own book, Warhead.”