Forty-Five American Boys: Short Histories of Presidential Childhoods

by William Walsh

From Washington to Trump, these are the stories of each president’s childhood―told through fragments and quotes appropriated from more than 300 children’s books, pop history books and scholarly biographies. Together, it’s also the story of boyhood in America, a series of portraits that illustrate how growing-up has changed and the hurdles have shifted. From farm boys to aristocrats, these are America’s origin stories, the legends of our leaders--a compendium of folklore and facts about the roots of American power.

209 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2013

About the author

William Walsh is the author of The Poems and The Poets (both from Erratum Press), Forty-five American Boys (Outpost19), ON TV, Unknown Arts, Ampersand, Mass., Pathologies, Questionstruck, Stephen King Stephen King (all from Keyhole Press), and Without Wax: A Documentary Novel (Casperian Books).

His work has appeared in Annalemma, Artifice, Quick Fiction,, New York Tyrant, Caketrain, Juked, LIT, Rosebud, Quarterly West, Crescent Review, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, as well as anthologies like The &NOW Anthology: Best of Innovative Writing, Dzanc's Best of the Web, and New Micro: Norton Anthology of Exceptionally Short Fiction.

Reviews

[Robert Vaughan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inventive, quirky, repetitive yet unique. Walsh's take on the biography of each POTUS's childhood is fun, "factual?", and plays on rhetoric, and the general fascination of Americana. It struck me how more often than not, coming from meager means or circumstances did not prevent an individual from running this country in the highest position.

[Erika Zenchak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting and quick read (it took me awhile because I’ve been reading others at the same time). If you like US history, you would enjoy this!

[John Madera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engagingly appropriating fragments from biographies, children’s books, and popular and scholarly books, William Walsh’s Forty-Four American Boys: Short Histories of Presidential Childhoods draws a portrait of the POTUS as a young child: of forty-four of the most powerful men in history, underscoring how much mythology and hagiography shapes the average American’s understanding of history. Walsh’s use of the pronoun constraint of “he,” “him,” and “his” in place of proper names underscores the common threads, factual or not, of biographical details, which oddly coheres into an entity you might call transhistorical, the POTUS as someone, some thing, all-encompassing, a “possibility space” open to everyone, false narratives all. Forty-Four American Boys invitingly raises many questions about history, historicity, and historicizing, about narratives in general, about how we perceive and conceive childhood, especially boyhood, in the U.S., about how often mystery, hearsay, and legend is regarded as history.

[Erik Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

an interesting, well written synopsis of the American experience with some interesting take aways on how success can be cultivated in youth, and the various viewpoints that are created and brought to our highest office

[J.A.]

Super interesting premise (and follow through). Perfect for the politically minded who want a little fun with their history.

[Steve's Book Stuff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short snippets taken from many different sources combine to form stories on the boyhoods of the forty-five men who have been American Presidents (yes, it includes a chapter on the current occupant of the White House, #45, despite the title). Since this is really a collection of short stories, I decided to read a chapter or two at a time, followed by some research/reading on the subsequent life and presidencies of those profiled before moving on to the next chapter or two. A good way to dive into the American Presidency as a reflection of the personalities that have occupied it, rather than through a lens of policy or politics. A good book for what it is (and what it is is somewhat unique). Picked this up at the gift shop at the Truman Presidential Library when we visited in November 2018.