Nicholas Wade

Nicholas Wade is the author of four books about recent human evolution. They are addressed to the general reader interested in knowing what the evolutionary past tells us about human nature and society today.

Before the Dawn, published in 2006, traces how people have evolved during the last 50,000 years.

The Faith Instinct (2009) argues that religious behavior evolved because of the many benefits religion brings to society, from enforcing morality to energizing defense against enemies.

A Troublesome Inheritance (2014) discusses the biological basis for the emergence of human races.

The Origin of Politics (2025) traces evolution's reach in shaping both human nature and the structure of human societies, setting the framework for today's politics.

Wade was born in Aylesbury, England, and educated at Eton and at King's College, Cambridge, where he studied natural sciences. He has worked at Nature and Science, two weekly scientific magazines, and, for many years, on the New York Times, where he was an editorial writer and science editor.