Brilliantly summed up by its subtitle, The King of Confidence: A Tale of Utopian Dreamers, Frontier Schemers, True Believers, False Prophets, and the Murder of an American Monarch is a fascinating glimpse into the dramatic world of antebellum America. Out of the "Burned-Over District" of 19th-century New York State sprang the Shakers, the Mormons and some less-remembered religious leaders, including James Strang.
In the wake of Joseph Smith's murder, Strang managed to convince a significant number of Mormons that Smith had declared him his successor. While the main body of Mormons headed west to Utah, Strang, who was "by 1853... a bona fide celebrity," used his charisma to draw several hundred followers north to Beaver Island, off the coast of Michigan's upper peninsula.
There he established a kingdom, had himself crowned as King of Earth and Heaven, proceeded to take multiple wives, speak out against slavery and generally raise a ruckus that led to his murder. A strange and enigmatic character, Strang exemplified the fervor of an era in which "a growing number of Americans came to believe the world was on the verge of an apocalypse."
Harvey (The Island of Lost Maps) 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. Strang, a relatively small actor who was brought to trial as a political move, nevertheless played an interesting role in the coming conflagration of the Civil War. Readers of Erik Larson or Gary Krist are sure to devour The King of Confidence. --Jessica Howard, bookseller at Bookmans, Tucson, Ariz.