Advance praise for An Assassin in Utopia:

“Juggling incels and libertines, the mighty and the mightily deranged, Susan Wels deftly brings us this close to an amazing cast of real-life nineteenth century characters—admirable and horrific, brilliant and doomed, messianic and utterly mad—making them (and their vivid emotions) newly relatable to our era. You’ll be casting An Assassin in Utopia in your head, even as it demonstrates that Free Love is anything but, and that one man can make a difference, often in the worst way possible. This is like David McCullough on acid.”

– Chris Connelly, ABC News correspondent and ESPN reporter

"Susan Wels has assembled a large and rowdy cast of characters in this immensely enjoyable and engrossing book. Self-proclaimed messiahs, patronage-dealing politicians, ink-stained journalists, table-rapping mediums, tent-raising charlatans: All are trying to make their mark in Gilded Age America. And, remarkably, all their paths cross in An Assassin in Utopia, with surprising and tragic results."

– John Kelly, Columnist, The Washington Post

"Susan Wels is a gifted and masterful storyteller. Her book is a fascinating, well-told tale of a presidential assassination and sexually unbridled would-be utopia. She provides vivid, nuanced details of the time and some of its most interesting characters —including publisher Horace Greely, showman P. T. Barnum, feminist and foreign correspondent Margaret Fuller, the spirit-seeking Fox sisters, a cross-dressing Union spy, and major political figures of the period. An Assassin in Utopia is a deeply researched, riveting book told with impressive command and narrative power.  I strongly recommend it.”

– Michael Krasny, Professor Emeritus of American Literature and retired host of public radio's KQED Forum

Praise for Susan Wels:

“Susan Wels’ companion volume to a Discovery Channel documentary offers the best overview of the ship’s construction, the sinking and modern-day efforts to examine the wreckage at the bottom of the ocean.”

– The Sacramento Bee

"Wels, author of a bestselling book about the Titanic, presents an irresistible biography-in-pictures rich in photographs of Earhart and a slew of intriguing documents. Wels’ brisk narrative hits all the main points and captures the spirit of Earhart.”

– Booklist (starred)

“The ship itself is the star of the book Titanic: Legacy of the World’s Greatest Ocean Liner. Susan Wels has skillfully woven history and potent human drama with modern oceanic recovery and preservation techniques to produce a magnificent book . . . telling the widely known sea-disaster story with revealing new data and insightful tales.”

– Omaha World-Herald

"The volume is well researched and abundantly illustrated and will delight and intrigue those lucky enough to live in San Francisco, those who just visit and leave their heart, and anyone involved with cities and public art."

– BookNews

"Susan Wels combined history, politics, business, and all branches of arts in her massive collection based on an impressive body of research. Whether you love history or arts, Arts for the City belongs in your book collection, or on your coffee table.”

– San Francisco Book Review

"Arts for the City thoughtfully and comprehensively makes the case for San Francisco as a great urban center for art."

– George Calys, The San Francisco Examiner

"Wels's upbeat, thoroughly civic-minded book conveys not only the story of a dynamic arts agency in the City by the Bay. It also describes the extraordinary work the organization has helped to produce, and borne witness to, over the years across different media."

– Publishers Weekly