The White House Boys: An American Tragedy

Reading The White House Boys was painful. I hate to think that treatment like this happened in America, but I know that sick people gravitate toward the weak and helpless. This was a testament to the memories of this young boy.

Enjoyed, as best one can, ready and learning about this tragedy. Had never heard about it up until I read a short article on the internet. Too bad this story went on for so many years before "they" began to try and cover it up.

Thsi is a true narrative presently being played out in the state of Florida. The telling of the story is straight forward and plainly stated. It is a tale of a group of men who experienced a brutal childhood at the hands of the people entrusted with their care that affected the whole of their lives. They are seeking and, in part, receiving justice for themselves and forty or so unknown boys buried in graves on the property. It is good reading for those interested in social injustice and child welfare.

I too found this book impossible to put down! (OK I found it impossible to leave the computer since I read on kindle-for-PC). I read it cover to cover in one sitting, eyes glued to the screen. Definitely a captivating read.

Kiser writes in a very rudimentary style, which lends itself to the story somewhat since he is offering recollections of life as a young boy. His writing almost seems as if written by that boy he was back then. But he provides very little context for the stories he offers; dates, places, explanations of who is who or who does what at the school, all are left very vague. The resulting work gives a harrowing account of life in this school, but does little to enlighten the reader beyond the most basic facts as he experienced them. Worth a read as a first-hand account, but I suspect that there is much more revelatory work out there on this dark subject. Those who are looking for a little more of what lies behind Mr. Kiser's experiences will need to read more than what this work offers.

Crazy. This world and our country have so much hate and violence and hard to read that my state and its government were a part of it. How many more institutions are there were society turns it back. This book details horrific things that took place not that long ago. It is difficult to keep reading what happened to thsese young men. It leaves you wondering if this took place then, is it really all cleaned up now?

Although, I haven't finished this book, yet, I have found it very informative to the atrocities that seem to have escaped into the catacombs of American history. It still reflects some of the product of the Civil War. It shows how our government is and remains out of control.

What a sad and depressing book! I could not finish it due to the repetitious material. Beating after beating, intimidation and just horrible treatment at the hands of the monsters who ran the facility. Those people were not human and treated these poor boys worst than animals.

If you've read the newspaper accounts, you already know the basic story. Kiser is not an accomplished writer, so as a memoir there's a lot left to desire. He doesn't really get inside the skin/brain of the kid that he was, or bring the story to life through details. We don't *feel* what he felt--it's oddly flat. It's a very short book as well (what a strange complaint, then: not very good and not enough of it). Much of it is over/under-exposed photos that are too small to see on a Kindle, and reprints of newspaper stories that we've already read.

This is not a professional product. I'm halfway through this book and I haven't even read 7500 words. I am so disappointed. I don't know how they could even give this thing away let alone charge people $10 for this. Just read the product description, as this book doesn't even delve any deeper than that. It just blows over the entire story. There's zero depth or insight. I'm really taking one for the team here - no ones going to say what I've said because the subject matter is heartbreaking. It is. But this is a terrible excuse for a professional book. It's too short and the publisher stretched it out. Several pages have one line or a picture on them. The longest chapter was a foreword put in no doubt, to further fill the pages. There have to be better books on this subject. This is an important story but I'm really talking about how the heck you charge people their hard earned money for a book that is truly an honest 50 pages that most 4th graders could grasp. I want my money back!

I bought this book too hastily, thinking it was connected to the Washington D.C. White House pedophilia scandals of child abuse and torture like the Franklin Cover-up. Instead, it is a first-person account of brutally cruel treatment of boys at a Florida juvenile detention center that dubbed its torture building “the white house.”

Written by one of its survivors, Roger Dean Kiser, its first-person account of the sadistic mistreatment of the children that killed many, sold some for sexual abuse by predators, and left all of them emotionally scarred and damaged tugs at one’s heartstrings like a shameless Hollywood heart-wrencher heart-warmer. With only a sixth-grade education, Kiser writes simply and plainly but effectively. His decency comes through, as does how much he suffered before being able to feel and be able to express love and affection. The comparison to Mark Twin is inapt—Kiser lacks Twain’s depth, distance, and irony—but the book is a quick and engaging non-stop read. With its large type and wider margins the entire work would have made an over-sized Harper’s Magazine article.

The idea that this happened in the United States of America, right under our noses, is sickening and disgusting. It's absolutely unacceptable and everyone needs to wake up and realize that if we don't protect our collective values then they will be picked away starting with the most vulnerable.

Roger's story has been repeated by hundreds of other victims of this horrible place and this horrible institutional system. hundreds of boys were abused, and they're the lucky ones. Some never made it out of the white house alive.

For over a century this was just how this place operated, while everyone looked the other way, including countless elected officials. Were they aware of what was happening at the Florida Industrial School for Boys? We may never know. What we do know is that not a single individual has been indicted yet. There hasn't even been a formal apology issues by the state to the victims. it's time to demand a change to that.

In any case, you MUST READ this book. It's not only a highly interesting and easy read, Roger is masterful storyteller, but the story manages to end in an uplifting and inspirational tone that rewards the reader with the spirit of a true survivor.

The atrocities author Roger Kiser suffered at the hands of his "caretakers" in this Florida institution will make your toes curl. The depravity of the people running this home for boys will sicken you. The triumph and hope that Mr. Kiser offers as a result of his broken life will make your life's troubles pale to trivialities, and cause you to question what right you've ever had to complain.

As Mr. Kiser continues his work with the state of Florida and even the FBI, in an effort to ensure that heinous crimes like the ones committed upon him and other young boys are a thing of the past, he has put his personal life back together, setting an example for all of mankind that nothing is greater than the human spirit.

Written with the strength of a survivor and the compassion of one who knows severe physical and emotional pain, Mr. Kiser's book is a well-scripted look into a childhood of hell.

While the subject matter is difficult, the book is exceptional. It flows from fact to feeling in an effortless, plain-spoken manner and is interspersed with photos as well. The White House Boys...An American Tragedy is a must-read true story of abuse and hope.

Dear Roger I have just finished reading the White House Boys. Oh boy! What can I say, it brought tears to my eyes to think that people can be so callous and cruel to children. I don't know how you survived you must be an exceptionally strong willed person. The people that committed those crimes against you and the other children will get their punishment in Hell I hope. But I sincerely hope that they will also get some form of punishment here and now. They should spend the rest of their retched lives in prison for murder and child abuse of the very worst kind.
Thank you for writing this book and exposing the truth about what happened to the Whitehouse Boys.
Regards Anne Rogers