BRILLIANT ODDBALL
Colonel Telamon Cuyler
The Most Mysterious Man in Georgia
Forgotten Georgian Brought
Back to Life in New Biography
One of the most illustrious figures in Georgia and New York history has been lost to time—until now.
Media Development Company, Inc. announces the release of BRILLIANT ODDBALL: Colonel Telamon Cuyler, The Most Mysterious Man in Georgia, the first-ever biography of a man The Atlanta Constitution once proclaimed as “one of the most puzzling and fascinating figures in modern Georgia history.”
BRILLIANT ODDBALL offers an intimate and detailed portrait of Colonel Telamon Cruger Smith Cuyler—a Jones County, Georgia, native who made worldwide headlines, befriended royalty, and shaped Southern history while living a life of extraordinary contradictions.
A Man of Influence and Intrigue
Cuyler’s life stretched far beyond rural Georgia. Married to a California heiress, he hosted gala dinners at New York’s Waldorf Astoria and Paris’s Ritz Hotel, moving easily in elite social circles on both sides of the Atlantic. His friends and acquaintances included “Uncle Remus” author Joel Chandler Harris, legendary editor Henry W. Grady, U.S. presidents, governors, and European royalty.
A meticulous historian, Cuyler was considered the leading authority on Georgia history and the Confederacy. He quietly advised the producers of Gone With the Wind, and one of his family’s Civil War uniforms was even used in the film. He also practiced law in both Georgia and Europe, represented financier J.P. Morgan in Paris, and served as special counsel for the governments of Korea, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, and Mexico.
Cuyler’s entrepreneurial reach extended into real estate, industrial development, journalism, and agriculture. He was an early champion of farmers’ markets, a textile industry pioneer, and created the idea that became the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge.
A Life of Contradictions
Behind the mustache and polished Southern gentility, however, lurked turmoil. In 1931, Cuyler was jailed in Manhattan as the “brains” of a massive metals swindle. He later sued his wealthy mother-in-law for half a million dollars, claiming she had destroyed his marriage. At another low point, he leapt from a moving train in North Carolina during a mental health crisis, disappearing into the mountains with $22,000 in negotiable bonds.
Despite these scandals, Cuyler returned time and again to his ancestral plantation near Wayside, Georgia, where he wrote secret diaries that chronicled his extraordinary life until his death in 1951.
More Than a Biography
“In many ways, this is not only a biography of a brilliant and strange man, but also a love story—several love stories,” Fortenberry said. “It’s about family, resilience, and the thin line between triumph and tragedy. From the Gay 90s through World War II, Cuyler’s story is as much about Georgia and America as it is about him.”
Drawing on those sealed diaries and extensive research, BRILLIANT ODDBALL reveals the rise and fall of a man whose life embodied both the grandeur and shadows of the South.
About the Author
Ken H. Fortenberry is an award-winning journalist and author whose reporting has been recognized nationwide. With BRILLIANT ODDBALL, he delivers the definitive account of Colonel Telamon Cuyler’s remarkable—and until now, largely forgotten—life.
Publication Date: October 1, 2025
ISBN: 9798297258792
Available on Amazon