National Book Award-winner Nathaniel Philbrick has inked to do his next book, The Last Stand: The Battle of the Little Big Horn, at Viking. The Penguin imprint, which has published three other books by Philbrick including his NBA-winning In the Heart of the Sea (2000) and his most recent book, Mayflower (2008), took North American rights to the new title, about the famous 1876 battle between American troops and Native Americans. Viking is planning to publish Last Stand in 2013.

Wendy Wolf, editorial director of nonfiction at Viking, struck the deal with agent Stuart Krichevsky. Speaking to the book, Penguin said it "will challenge and surprise readers who thought they knew about this key moment in history."

According to Penguin, In The Heart of the Sea spent 40 weeks on the Times bestseller list; Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War was on the Times list for 18 weeks.