Published in 1863, William M. Thayer’s The Pioneer Boy, and How He Became President fictionalized Abraham Lincoln’s younger years to serve as a moral and religious model for adolescent readers. The bestseller went through many editions over the following decades, but branded Thayer as a minor writer of juvenile stories.

This new edition of Pioneer Boy reprints the text with extensive annotations by Steven K. Rogstad. In his reappraisal of the work, Rogstad taps the factual history woven into the plot and dialogue to illuminate how the young Lincoln presented by Thayer compares with historical documents and credible reminisces of the future president. Rogstad’s chapter-by-chapter analysis reveals the work as an astute biography while reevaluating Thayer as a source worthy of consideration within Lincoln scholarship. An introduction offers an in-depth consideration of Lincoln’s own presentations of his youth, Thayer’s career, and the book’s long life.

A new look at an overlooked text, The Pioneer Boy, and How He Became President analyzes what we can learn from William M. Thayer’s popular book.

William M. Thayer (1820–1898) was a congregational pastor and author. His works include the novel The Bobbin Boy; or, How Nat Got His Learning and the nonfiction books From Boyhood to Manhood: Life of Benjamin Franklin and Marvels of the New West. Steven K. Rogstad is an independent scholar. He is the author of Lincoln Among the Badgers: Rediscovering Sites Associated with Abraham and Mary Lincoln in Wisconsin and coeditor of The Many Faces of Lincoln: Selected Articles from the Lincoln Herald.