"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, National Book Award winner and New York Times bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea and Mayflower

"The King of Confidence is a ludicrously enjoyable, unputdownable read—a book with unsettling (but also weirdly comforting) parallels to our time. By illuminating this forgotten moment in American history, where a group of rational adults fell under the spell of a charismatic madman, Harvey reminds us of the endlessly repeating nature of history and humanity."—Dave Eggers, Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Zeitoun and What Is the What

"Will the American thirst for snake oil ever be quenched? Probably not, at least judging by The King of Confidence, Miles Harvey's jaunty, far-ranging history of the 19th-century con man and prophet James Jesse Strang. 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."—New York Times Book Review

"Harvey delivers a vivid account of the life and times of American sect leader, lawyer, newspaper editor, and con man James Jesse Strang ... He paints antebellum America as a time of 'excesses and delusions' and skillfully explores the era's technological advances, rising immigration, political violence, religious fervor, and leading literary figures. This evocative tale will astonish and delight fans of American history."—Publishers Weekly (starred 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 don't take my word for it. Read it!"—Jonathan Eig, New York Times bestselling author of Ali: A Life and Luckiest Man Alive: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig

"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. His name was James Jesse Strang. ... You will never forget him after reading Harvey’s deeply researched, artfully written and splendidly compelling new book."—Chicago Tribune

"Miles Harvey specializes in true stories of audacious individuals, here attaining new heights of wonderment … Deftly performing a fresh and telling analysis of the timeless power of the con man over Americans who worship those who invent their own rules and ‘their own truths,’ Harvey brings to galloping life a forgotten, enlightening, and resounding chapter in America’s tumultuous history of searchers and charlatans."—Booklist (starred review)

"Flip this book open, read page one, and then try to stop. The King of Confidence is mesmerizing all the way through—a quirky, rollicking ride through an America marked by upheaval, tumult, and religious fervor. It feels like one of those dystopian futures that Hollywood keeps warning us we're hurtling toward, but it's actually our own forgotten past. What this startling book cleverly illuminates, though, is our own perilous present, where so many of us still yearn for con men and kings."—Dave Cullen, New York Times bestselling author of Columbine

"Miles Harvey’s rollicking story, ripe for a Hollywood treatment, follows the charismatic Mormon sect leader James Strang as he entices followers to his religious colony, declares himself king of earth and heaven, and dies a martyr’s death.”—Vanity Fair

"Wooly and wild, as artful as scrimshaw, The King of Confidence literally had me at the table of contents, and never let go. What an immense pleasure to be in the hands of so deft a storyteller, to be swept away by the richest kind of story, one that veers back to a historical moment while capturing America today, our pixie-dust delusions and national gullibility in the face of old-fashioned hucksterism. Miles Harvey is a literary treasure; he's added his best-yet to a growing heap of masterpieces."—Michael Paterniti, New York Times bestselling author of The Telling Room and Driving Mr. Albert

"Miles Harvey masterfully relates one of the great unknown chapters of our nation's history, one of those peculiarly American tales where faith, madness, and old-fashioned flimflammery converge to stunning effect. The story of James Strang, con man extraordinaire, is wildly amusing in its exposure of the stone-cold gullibility of our forebears, but also unsettling in its eerie echoes of our current national landscape, and the realization that very little has changed. The King of Confidence is a marvelous read."—Scott Anderson, author of the New York Times bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Lawrence in Arabia

"A tour de force of popular history … a spirited, entertaining read with a twist of insight and a tang of scandal.”—Library Journal

"Perfect for fans of Devil in the White City ... Harvey's narrative is a page-turning exercise in popular history . . . A nicely spun yarn of religious chicanery on the frontier in a nearly forgotten historical episode."—Kirkus Reviews

"A riveting tale told in lively prose and gripping anecdotes ... Harvey is a master storyteller, and his skills are in full display."—Salt Lake City Tribune

"Miles Harvey's meticulously researched tale The King of Confidence brings alive the bizarre and chaotic arc of Strang's life, as he seized his opportunity to accumulate power, money and multiple wives before being gunned down by rivals… America's history is rich with tales of frauds and fakers who successfully bamboozled their fellows. In Harvey's lively and insightful book, he shows why Strang deserves to be remembered as a prime exemplar of the type."—Minneapolis Star Tribune

"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.”—Wall Street Journal

"The King of Confidence reads akin to the best of thriller fiction. The true nature of the book renders the events all the more shocking and makes for an impactful read. Miles Harvey has done a masterful job bringing the past to life, narrating the whirlwind rise and fall of a true confidence man."—San Francisco Book Review

"Harvey’s skillfully crafted story splits the difference between outright skeptic and full-on believer, getting us close enough to ground level—through newspaper reports, court documents, letters, journals, and so forth—to wonder. Did Strang believe his own lies? Did shreds of truth beget the lies, or vice versa? Was there room, just a little, to believe in the miracles?"—NewCity (Chicago)

"James Strang emerges in The King of Confidence as a fascinating character—a short, balding fellow nevertheless able to draw people into his sphere—surrounded by an equally colorful supporting cast of deceivers and frauds."—Salt Lake City Weekly

"Harvey does an excellent job of not only detailing Strang's peripatetic life, and those of some of his more outlandish followers, but also of placing their lives in the context of the turbulent 1850s . . . Readers of Erik Larson or Gary Krist are sure to devour The King of Confidence."—Shelf Awareness

"The King of Confidence is cinematic in its vivid writing—it could make a great Netflix series."—Shepherd Express (Milwaukee)

"In this year of remote work and canceled vacation plans, the most engrossing virtual trip I’ve embarked on transported me to a Mormon kingdom on a Lake Michigan island during our nation’s antebellum era. And it’s an outstandingly entertaining excursion."—Notre Dame Magazine

"A deep reading of Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe as well as the newspapers of the day give [Harvey] an impressive command of the zeitgeist that produced Strang—and insights into the social upheaval and religious fervor of a divided nation hurtling toward civil war. The King of Confidence is a fantastic (make that fantastical) story and Harvey is as adept at spinning yarns as his shameless and devious subject."—Dean Jobb, author of Empire of Deception and The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream

"In the exhaustively researched The King of Confidence: A Tale of Utopian Dreamers, Frontier Schemers, True Believers, False Prophets, and the Murder of an American Monarch, Miles Harvey explores the improbable life and death of the man who would become King James Strang . . . Harvey employs a deft hand throughout, allowing the reader to draw their own parallels to a certain blowhard currently suffering the effects of a virus he long assured his followers was not a real or true threat to their continued existence."—Spectrum Culture (Portland, Oregon)

"A rollicking narrative that includes con artists, murders, mermaids, angels and a Navy warship . . . As fascinating as Strang’s exploits are, Harvey’s writing style makes it even more entertaining to read, with a grand high style inspired by 19th-century authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne and especially Herman Melville."—The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin)

"Harvey has spun out amazing connections to just about everything and everyone present in Strang’s world.  Marx and Darwin are here.  So are Charlotte Bronte and John Brown.  Abraham Lincoln, of course, and John Wilkes Booth and P.T. Barnum.  Even Freud, decades unborn, has a cameo. … Strang’s nasty story with its thievery, theatricality, and deceptions, lures us into those writers who tried to so hard to wrestle with the contradictions of America’s past.  Harvey shows us just how Melville, Hawthorne, Whitman, and Twain shared Strang’s imagined world."—National Book Review

"Well-researched nonfiction with a jaunty style . . . The King of Confidence does what all good history does—lead the reader to reflect on how that history helps us to make better sense of the current era."—Nebraska Public Radio

"Supremely readable . . . Surely someone like Tom Hanks is already trying to make a movie based on it."—OnMilwaukee.com (which named The King of Confidence to its Ten Great Books of 2020 list)

"Although there have been several biographies of Strang, this is the best and reveals new information about the 'con-man.'"—Lansing City Pulse (which named The King of Confidence a Best Book of 2020)

Must-read … Strang’s story is not only full of wild adventures, lousy behavior, and crazy ideas, but it forever defined one of the most well-known characters in American culture: The Confidence Man."—Book Riot (which named The King of Confidence a Best Crime Thriller Book of 2020)

"Why was this never the subject of a Gilbert and Sullivan musical?!?! Pirates and pantaloons! I’ll stop here but please read this book. It’s the most fun you’ll ever have reading about the 1840s."—CrimeReads

"Just to be clear, this is nonfiction, folks."—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel