To Reach the Clouds

“A heady, rushing account” of the 1974 high-wire act between the World Trade Center towers—now a Robert Zemeckis film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

“Philippe Petit is an artist whose theater is the sky. In this absorbing book, he reveals himself to be equal parts Houdini, Nureyev, and da Vinci.” —Robin Williams

One late-summer day, a feat of unimaginable audacity was perpetrated on the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The year was 1974. A hundred thousand people gathered on the ground to watch in awe as twenty-four-year-old high wire artist Philippe Petit made eight crossings between the all-but-completed towers, a quarter mile above the earth, over the course of nearly an hour.

Petit's achievement made headlines around the world. Yet few who saw or heard about it realized that it was the fulfillment of a dream he had nurtured for six years, rekindling it each time it was in danger of expiring. His accomplices were a motley crew of foreigners and Americans, who under Petit's direction had conspired, connived, labored, argued, rehearsed, and improvised to make possible an act of unsurpassed aerial artistry.

In this visually and verbally stunning book, Petit tells for the first time the dramatic story of this history-making walk, from conception and clandestine planning to the performance and its aftermath. The account draws on Petit's journals, which capture everything from his budgets to his strategies for rigging a high wire in the dead of night between two of the most secure towers in the world. It is animated by photographs taken by two of Petit's collaborators, and by his own wonderfully evocative sketches and unquenchable humor.

“By evoking his youthful passion for the World Trade Center, Petit brings the towers’ awesomeness back to life.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Every time I watch Philippe Petit perform, my heart beats a mile a minute, and I wonder, ‘What is going through his mind and heart up there?’ Now I know. This book is as awe-inspiring as his accomplishments on the wire.” —Miloš Forman

“How good to remember that morning in 1974 when a young man gave New York a gift of astonishing, indelible beauty. How good that he has sat down now to give us this lively and often heart-stopping account of how he achieved his masterpiece.” —Paul Auster