Most everyone knows George Washington as the first President of the United States and the boy who, after chopping down his father’s cherry tree, claimed, “I cannot tell a lie, Pa.”

That this claim is widely discredited has not diminished its popularity or the assurance that a strong moral register was, and remains, at the core of our country’s character.

But surely there’s still more to Washington than what’s been fed to us in books and by politicians, surely his dark moments held him back as much as his shining moments carried him forward …

We’re only a short while away from the next election. And while it’s still unclear who will win and help usher in the future, it’s an opportune time to look to the past, to the presidents who’ve come and gone; to reexamine their lives, their myths, their policies.

Every Tuesday right up to Election Day Melville House is presenting stories that creatively interpret the legacies of the men who’ve held this land’s highest office.

44 presidents, 44 writers, 44 stories.

Part 1: The Founding Fathers

* GEORGE WASHINGTON, by Steve Himmer

* JOHN ADAMS, by Lincoln Michel

* THOMAS JEFFERSON, by Jac Jemc

* JAMES MADISON, by Christopher Higgs

* JAMES MONROE by Brian Oliu

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 Part 2: Manifest Destiny

* JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, by Michael Kimball

* ANDREW JACKSON, by Matt Bell

* MARTIN VAN BUREN, by Robert Kloss

* WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, by Matthew Salesses

* JOHN TYLER, by Tara Laskowski

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Part 3: Five Guys

* JAMES K. POLK, by Ben Loory

* ZACHARY TAYLOR, by Aubrey Hirsch

* MILLARD FILLMORE, by James Tadd Adcox

* FRANKLIN PIERCE, by Matthew Kirkpatrick

* JAMES BUCHANAN, by Greg Gerke

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 Part 4: War and Peace

* ABRAHAM LINCOLN, by Alan Stewart Carl

* ANDREW JOHNSON, by John Minichillo

* ULYSSES S. GRANT, by Amelia Gray

* RUTHERFORD B. HAYES, by Katrina Gray

* JAMES GARFIELD, by Joseph Scapellato

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Part 5: Muttonchops and Empire

* CHESTER A. ARTHUR, by Rion Amilcar Scott

* GROVER CLEVELAND, by Dave Housley

* BENJAMIN HARRISON, by Mark Cugini

* WILLIAM MCKINLEY, by Chantel Tattoli

* THEODORE ROOSEVELT, by Erin Fitzgerald

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 Part 6: The Modern World

* WILLIAM H. TAFT, by Ryan W. Bradley

* WOODROW WILSON, by Tim Horvath

* WARREN G. HARDING, by Sarah Rose Etter

* CALVIN COOLIDGE, by Laura Ellen Scott

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  Part 7: Autumn and Spring

* HERBERT HOOVER, by Ravi Mangla

* FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT, by Gabriel Blackwell

* HARRY S. TRUMAN, by Christy Crutchfield

* DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, by Anne Valente

* JOHN F. KENNEDY, by Roxane Gay

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Part 8: Fragmentation and Malaise

* LYNDON B. JOHNSON, by Mel Bosworth

* RICHARD NIXON, by Lindsay Hunter

GERALD FORD, by Matthew Simmons

* JAMES EARL CARTER, Jr. by Scott Garson

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Part 9: Dude, Where’s My Country?

* RONALD REAGAN, by Salvatore Pane

* GEORGE H.W. BUSH, by Ben Tanzer

* WILLIAM CLINTON, by J.A. Tyler

* GEORGE W. BUSH, by Mike Meginnis

* BARACK OBAMA, by Lauren Becker