Philippe Petit Walks Between The Twin Towers by History Daily

Welcome back. It’s been three weeks since my last episode, which is unusual for me, and you might be wondering what’s happening. The answer is a lot. I’ve had quite a few major life changes in the recent past. First, I signed a book deal with Routledge, the largest and one of the most prestigious peer-reviewed academic book publishers in the world. In April they are set to publish a book based on my dissertation. The book details the origins of the mass domestic surveillance state in France and Britain during World War I. In it, I describe how these democratic countries developed the institutions necessary to observe and control their populations, in what is a precursor to today’s modern all-seeing state. Titled, “Domestic Surveillance and Social Control in Britain and France during World War I,” look for it this April.

In other news, I have accepted a new job as an Assistant Professor of History at Oklahoma Panhandle State University. Yes, I am now Professor Girod. All that hard work finally paid off, the dream has come true and from here on out I will be educating at the university level. As a professor I have a host of duties from teaching, academic advising, attending conferences and publishing. As such, the podcast is going to slow down somewhat. Don’t panic! The podcast will continue as long as I live and breathe. I intend on keeping this going forever and eventually making it to Macron, or at least to Je Suis Charlie. However, the podcast is no longer my full-time job, which is great because it never paid as much as it needed to. This has always been a passion project, kept alive by patrons and one-time donors.

So, what are the plans for the podcast? I have a few guest episodes lined up. Otherwise, I am determined to finish the First Crusade this Spring. There aren’t many episodes left though those episodes will be long ones. Afterwards, I am going to finish up my patrons-only series on the history of the Louvre. From here on out I am returning to my old format of putting episodes up on Patreon ad-free and then releasing them a month later in the general feed. If you want to get episodes ad-free, a month early and access patron-exclusive episodes please sign up for our Patreon for just $2 a month, and never ask again, “When is the next episode coming out?”

Alright, enough about my life, on with the show.

Today’s special episode is a feed drop from History Daily, all about the Man on Wire, Philippe Petit. Petit became famous on the 7^th of August 1974 when he walked on a high-wire between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.

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