Historical
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The King of Confidence
The "unputdownable" (Dave Eggers, National Book award finalist) story of the most infamous American con man you've never heard of: James Strang, self-proclaimed divine king of earth, heaven, and an island in Lake Michigan, "perfect for fans of The Devil in the White City" (Kirkus)
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
Longlisted for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction
Finalist for the Midland Authors Annual Literary Award
A Michigan Notable Book
A CrimeReads Best True Crime Book of the Year
"A masterpiece." -Nathaniel Philbrick
In the summer of 1843, James Strang, a charismatic young lawyer and avowed atheist, vanished from a rural town in New York. Months later he reappeared on the Midwestern frontier and converted to a burgeoning religious movement known as Mormonism. In the wake of the murder of the sect's leader, Joseph Smith, Strang unveiled a letter purportedly from the prophet naming him successor, and persuaded hundreds of fellow converts to follow him to an island in Lake Michigan, where he declared himself a divine king.
From this stronghold he controlled a fourth of the state of Michigan, establishing a pirate colony where he practiced plural marriage and perpetrated thefts, corruption, and frauds of all kinds. Eventually, having run afoul of powerful enemies, including the American president, Strang was assassinated, an event that was frontpage news across the country.
The King of Confidence tells this fascinating but largely forgotten story. Centering his narrative on this charlatan's turbulent twelve years in power, Miles Harvey gets to the root of a timeless American original: the Confidence Man. Full of adventure, bad behavior, and insight into a crucial period of antebellum history, The King of Confidence brings us a compulsively readable account of one of the country's boldest con men and the boisterous era that allowed him to thrive.
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
Longlisted for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction
Finalist for the Midland Authors Annual Literary Award
A Michigan Notable Book
A CrimeReads Best True Crime Book of the Year
"A masterpiece." -Nathaniel Philbrick
In the summer of 1843, James Strang, a charismatic young lawyer and avowed atheist, vanished from a rural town in New York. Months later he reappeared on the Midwestern frontier and converted to a burgeoning religious movement known as Mormonism. In the wake of the murder of the sect's leader, Joseph Smith, Strang unveiled a letter purportedly from the prophet naming him successor, and persuaded hundreds of fellow converts to follow him to an island in Lake Michigan, where he declared himself a divine king.
From this stronghold he controlled a fourth of the state of Michigan, establishing a pirate colony where he practiced plural marriage and perpetrated thefts, corruption, and frauds of all kinds. Eventually, having run afoul of powerful enemies, including the American president, Strang was assassinated, an event that was frontpage news across the country.
The King of Confidence tells this fascinating but largely forgotten story. Centering his narrative on this charlatan's turbulent twelve years in power, Miles Harvey gets to the root of a timeless American original: the Confidence Man. Full of adventure, bad behavior, and insight into a crucial period of antebellum history, The King of Confidence brings us a compulsively readable account of one of the country's boldest con men and the boisterous era that allowed him to thrive.
Editorial Reviews
"A jaunty, far-ranging history... Despite the frontier setting, there is something eerily contemporary about Harvey's portrait of a real estate huckster with monarchic ambitions, a creative relationship to debt, and a genius for mass media... Harvey deploys small scraps of knowledge to great effect. His account of Strang's rise and fall is littered with thumbnail histories of nineteenth-century cross-dressing, John Brown, John Deere, the Brontës, bloomers, the Underground Railroad, mesmerism, newspaper exchanges, the Illuminati, and much else. This approach amounts to a sort of historical pointillism, bringing the manic, skittering mood of the era into focus. It is a style of history well suited to the antebellum decades, when American culture was most unabashedly itself... Harvey's wonderfully digressive narrative is interspersed with news clippings, playbills, land surveys, and daguerreotypes, as if to periodically certify that all of this madness is really true... Rather than a biography of a single man, he offers a vivid portrait of the time and place in which a character like Strang could thrive."―Chris Jennings, New York Times Book Review
"Harvey is a skillful writer and thoughtful researcher... He examines the bedeviled society [of antebellum America] through the life of James Jesse Strang, a strange man of many parts---most of them bad."―Howard Schneider, Wall Street Journal
"The story of James Strang--a messianic con man who wreaks havoc on an island community of his own devising--is amazing in itself. But it is the telling of the tale--think Herman Melville meets Mark Twain--that makes The King of Confidence a masterpiece. This book has talons that sink into you and won't let go."―Nathaniel Philbrick, New York Times bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea and Mayflower
"Deeply researched, artfully written, and splendidly compelling... Great writers deserve great subjects, and Miles Harvey, who has proven himself a great writer in two previous books, has found another subject worthy of his skills... A riveting book."―Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune
"Harvey's entertaining history… chronicles a manic, anxious, gullible time, not unlike our own."―New York Times Book Review
"The King of Confidence is that rarest of gems: gorgeously written, impeccably researched, and completely addictive. Miles Harvey has written one of the best books of the year. But d...
"Harvey is a skillful writer and thoughtful researcher... He examines the bedeviled society [of antebellum America] through the life of James Jesse Strang, a strange man of many parts---most of them bad."―Howard Schneider, Wall Street Journal
"The story of James Strang--a messianic con man who wreaks havoc on an island community of his own devising--is amazing in itself. But it is the telling of the tale--think Herman Melville meets Mark Twain--that makes The King of Confidence a masterpiece. This book has talons that sink into you and won't let go."―Nathaniel Philbrick, New York Times bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea and Mayflower
"Deeply researched, artfully written, and splendidly compelling... Great writers deserve great subjects, and Miles Harvey, who has proven himself a great writer in two previous books, has found another subject worthy of his skills... A riveting book."―Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune
"Harvey's entertaining history… chronicles a manic, anxious, gullible time, not unlike our own."―New York Times Book Review
"The King of Confidence is that rarest of gems: gorgeously written, impeccably researched, and completely addictive. Miles Harvey has written one of the best books of the year. But d...
Readers Top Reviews
Incognito ObscuraBri
this book will keep you on the edge of your seat with it’s fanciful narrative, but unfortunately it’s filled with inaccuracies from the first full page through the last; it’s got glaring historical errors & you don’t have to have a history degree (which incidentally i have) to catch them, i.e., “a six shooter, smuggled in...” [1844 jail scene p. 4]; only about 2,800 Colt Paterson revolvers had been produced & there definitely was not one in this jail cell; why lie? i guess it just sells books better, & this one is definitely readable; just don’t parade it as History
Michael Walter
In one of his spoken word pieces that The Doors later set to music, Jim Morrison said: “We could plan a murder. Or start a religion.” The idea of starting a religion has always fascinated me. Getting enough people to buy into a myth that it grows from curiousity to cult to full blown religion is just a matter of degrees. And, of course, the charisma of the leader. That’s what drew me to Miles Harvey’s book “The King of Confidence” about the wild and strange life of James Jesse Strang. Strang watched as Joseph Smith founded The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormonism) and took advantage of Smith’s untimely murder to declare himself Smith’s successor. Though most Mormon’s recognized Brigham Young as Smith’s successor (and followed him to Utah) Strang was convincing enough to eventually have 12,000 followers. He established a commune on Michigan’s Beaver Island where he declared himself prophet and king. Harvey mentions in the Acknowledgements that his research for this book began in 2015 (and, wow, does it show!), meaning it predates our current political situation. But it is hard to read a story like this, about a man with such strong charisma that he creates a Cult of Personality whose followers will believe just about anything, without seeing similarities today. Harvey says as much at the end of this story when he writes: “... people like James Strang never really vanish. When the time is right, they reappear, wearing a new guise, exploiting new fears, offering new dreams of salvation. Americans are fixated on such figures, especially in periods of profound social and economic upheaval.” Superbly written and thoroughly researched, I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever thought about planning a murder or starting a religion.
A L
A remarkable job of reporting with excellent research! The development true tale of "King" Strang and the timeline of this charlatan beyond compare in antebellum America is so well crafted that you think you're reading a thriller at points. Harvey's work is not only a great read but there is so much there that is very relevant to today's politics and American experience. That Strang was such a "confidence man" to be able to continuously swindle his way through life and rise as a cult leader of many Mormon followers is a remarkable story that everyone should read! I highly recommend this book and hope it gets noticed for many prizes as I feel it is that good. Truth is always stranger than fiction and this story delivers the truth in spades while crafted in a way that makes you stay up far too late to finish it. Order it and enjoy!
