THE DEATH OF EXPERTISE by Tom Nichols (Oxford University Press)
US Naval War College Professor Tom Nichols hired Press Shop to help his publisher’s in-house team line up media attention for THE DEATH OF EXPERTISE. It was clear this book, which is about the degradation of learning, knowledge, and experience and how it threatens our democracy, had a lot of potential in the wake of the 2016 election. Nichols, a Never-Trump conservative, wanted to make sure he could spread the book’s message as widely as possible.
We coordinated multiple national spots for Nichols, including MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper, and The Tavis Smiley Show. Radio and podcasts we lined up included WNYC’s Indivisible radio, Slate’s The Gist podcast, KQED Forum, KABC, Think on KERA, and others. Nichol’s book sales exceeded expectations, and Oxford University Press extended our PR contract. The book spent months in the top 1,000 on Amazon, was a Canadian bestseller, and went into multiple printings.
Nichols' work, "For Defending Experts In An Anti-factual Age," was named one of Politico’s ’50 Ideas Blowing Up US Politics’ in 2017.
A few of our favorite media hits:
MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
Nichols appeared multiple times on the show after the publication of THE DEATH OF EXPERTISE. He was interviewed both in a one-on-one format and, fittingly, in a panel of experts.
Slate’s The Gist podcast: “Up With Eggheads—Are Experts Taking the Fall for Decisions Made by People in Power?”
Mike Pesca spoke with Nichols in a segment called ‘Up With Eggheads’ and asked if experts are taking the fall for decisions made by people in power.
PBS’s Tavis Smiley Show
Nichols did a 30-minute interview with Smiley on this nationally broadcast PBS show.
We lined up multiple appearances for Nichols on MSNBC around publication