So Much Bad in the Best of Us: The Salacious and Audacious Life of John W. Talbot [Paperback]

From supreme president to forgotten enemy, John W. Talbot lived a remarkable life. Charismatic, energetic, and powerful, he founded a national fraternal organization, the Order of Owls, and counted senators, congressmen, and business leaders among his friends. He wielded his influence to help causes close to his heart but also to bring down those who stood against him.

InSo Much Bad in the Best of Us, Greta Fisher's careful research reveals that Talbot was capable of great evil, causing one woman to describe him as the Devil Incarnate. His string of very public affairs revealed his strange sexual preferences and violent tendencies, and charges leveled against him included perjury, blackmail, jury tampering, slander, libel, misuse of the mail, assault with intent to kill, and White slavery. Ultimately convicted on the slavery charge, he spent several years in Leavenworth penitentiary and eventually lost everything, including control of the Order of Owls. His descent into alcoholism and death by fire was a fitting end to a tumultuous and dramatic life. After 50 years of newspaper headlines and court battles, Talbot's death made national news, but with more enemies than friends and estranged from his family, he was ultimately forgotten.

A gripping true crime story,So Much Bad in the Best of Usoffers a mesmerizing account of the life of John W. Talbot, the Order of Owls, and how quickly the powerful can fall.

Greta Fisher is a genealogist and historian born and raised in Indiana. She specializes in Central European immigration to the Midwest and enjoys placing family stories in historical context. She currently resides in South Bend, Indiana, and this is her first book.

Fisher has uncovered an almost unbelievable amount of corruption and perfidious misbehavior in the story of just one man. It really makes one wonder just how much must lurk in the underbelly of our current society.

So Much Bad in the Best of Uslc.