Last year, after being open for more than a century, Florida’s Dozier School For Boys closed its doors. The year before that, HCI Books published Roger Dean Kiser’s The White House Boys: An American Tragedy - Kiser’s true story of the abuse and scandal he witnessed within the notorious institution’s grounds. Monday morning, NPR’s All Things Considered reported on the hundreds of men coming forward to recount the horror of being a “white house boy,” and referenced Kiser’s story. NPR’s interest sent a spike in sales for the title; at Amazon The White House Boys, according to HCI’s Kim Weiss, rose from "in the hundreds of thousands” to “between 1000 and 2000." Thursday afternoon Amazon said there were only seven copies in stock, “but more on the way.”
Weiss is hopeful word-of mouth will continue on the book which she said sheds light on an important topic. And that word of mouth is occurring; since the NPR piece, stories about the Dozier school have run in France, Germany and Spain. Kiser has steadily utilized Facebook and his Web site both to promote the work and to actively update former students of Dozier School, reconnecting orphans, and organizing a community seeking answers to what happened to the missing boys and why the Dozier School was allowed such a lengthy reign in light of the reported abuse.
