Henry Giroux — The Terror of the Unforeseen Book Publicity Case Study

This book publicity case study details the work Coriolis Company performed for Professor Henry Giroux’s new nonfiction book, The Terror of the Unforeseen.

The Terror of the Unforeseen, was published by LARB Books on July 16, 2019. It is a searing takedown of the populist authoritarian vision of America that tackles the resurgence of fascism in the age of Donald Trump’s presidency.

“Through protests, strikes, and education, Giroux proposes an international social movement that joins together various modes of resistance to illuminate a democratic renewal, and proves himself once again as one of the great public intellectuals of our time.”

You can read more about the book on the publisher’s website.

We sent out galleys of the book to media and reviewers to garner interviews, features, and book reviews.

We emailed news of the The Terror of the Unforeseen to LARB’s media contacts, and included Henry’s book in later mail blasts, too. This resulted in more interest and review copy requests.

Henry had a number of interviews with media outlets about the book, some of which you can watch and listen to at the following links.

He also wrote opinion pieces around the publication time, as you can see below.

Musician Julian Casablancas penned the foreword for The Terror of the Unforeseen, where he called for confining capitalism to the private sector, minimizing the power of the corporate world, and stopping neoliberalism in its tracks.

To defend his opinions, Casablancas visited with students in the Arts & Science Program’s Education Inquiry course taught by Giroux earlier this fall. The professor said he invited him to demonstrate to the students how important the course material really is.

The Seminary Co-op Bookstore in Chicago, IL houses one of the largest collections of academic books in the world. That’s why we were ecstatic when they confirmed that they are going to feature The Terror of the Unforeseen in their Critical Reading section, which features books that are “critical” in the sense that it is “a cornerstone of communication, a primary means by which we receive information” and an “active form of resistance, a tactic in the struggle against ignorance, misinformation, and manipulation.” Books such as Family Values by Melinda Cooper, States of Exception by Giorgio Agamben, and other academic titles are housed there.

In addition to sending galleys to traditional outlets, we reached out to some of Henry’s past Amazon reviewers and asked them if they would like to review his latest work. As you can see, they enjoyed this work just as much as they had enjoyed his previous books.

Stephen Rohde, a retired constitutional lawyer, lecturer, writer, and political activist, wrote a glowing review of the book:

In The Terror of the Unforeseen, a timely and audacious new book brimming with Douglass’s seething anger and barely controlled rage, Henry A. Giroux wants to again rouse and startle the conscience of the nation and denounce the crimes it is committing. “Echoes of the formative stages of fascism are with us once again,” Giroux writes, “and provide just one of the historical signposts of an American-style neo-fascism that appears to be engulfing the United States after simmering in the dark for years.” He is calling down fire, thunder, storms, and whirlwinds.

We created social media images and wrote tweets and Instagram captions to promote Henry’s book.

Some of these were posted on the Coriolis Twitter account, some were tweeted via the LARB Books Twitter account and yet others via The LA Review of Books Instagram account.

Some of our favorite images are below.

Promotions of The Terror of the Unforeseen on Twitter:

Henry’s book on Instagram — and Bookstagram: