An assassin in utopia The true story of a nineteenth-century sex cult and a president's murder

Sometimes, peculiar historical connections are quite amazing. In An Assassin in Utopia, Wels, a bestselling author, historian, and journalist, weaves together a number of characters that connect the Oneida Community, the Utopian sex cult led by John Humphrey Noyes, with the assassination of President James Garfield. The connecting tissue is Garfield's assassin, Charles Guiteau. In this riveting true tale, Wels introduces to the story seemingly unlikely characters from mid- to late-19th-century American history, such as Horace Greeley, Rutherford B. Hayes, Margaret Fuller, Pauline Cushman, Ulysses Grant, Roscoe Conkling, James Wormley, James Blaine, and even P. T. Barnum. This is a difficult book to put down given Wels's compelling presentation, even though at times some connections are a bit of a stretch. Nonetheless, the main players are beautifully and convincingly brought together at the conclusion of the story, even though readers already know it ends with Garfield's assassination. Wels's achievement rivals most good mysteries, as well as some of the terrific books covering great stories in the American past, such as Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City (2003) and Patricia Cohen's The Murder of Helen Jewett (1998). Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals. --Raymond Douglas Screws, Arkansas National Guard Museum

Wels (Titanic: Legacy of the World's Greatest Ocean Liner) centers this intriguing and sprawling survey of late 19th-century America on the Oneida Community, an agrarian society founded by John Humphrey Noyes and based on his religious beliefs and free love. The commune was the first place in the U.S. to experiment with eugenics, with Noyes selectively choosing who among his disciples could breed. The community collapsed after Noyes fled to Canada ahead of a statutory rape charge; he died there in 1886. One narrative thread follows President Garfield's assassin, Charles Guiteau, who briefly lived at Oneida before becoming an unstable drifter whose obsession with politics led to his murderous turn. Along the way, Wels touches on the career of newsman Horace Greeley, the country's fascination with P.T. Barnum's Greatest Show on Earth, the rage for mediums and spiritualism, the dirty presidential politics of the era, and a rift in the Republican party. The title is somewhat misleading, as Guiteau's story constitutes a relatively small portion of the whole, but American history buffs will find much else of interest. Fans of Candice Millard's work will want to have a look. Agent: Jacqueline Flynn, Delbourgo Literary. (Feb.)