The king of confidence : a tale of utopian dreamers, frontier schemers, true believers, false... prophets, and the murder of an american monarch by Harvey, Miles, 1960- author instant download

The king of confidence : a tale of utopian dreamers, frontier schemers, true believers, false... prophets, and the murder of an american monarch by Harvey, Miles, 1960- author instant download

xiii, 401 pages : 21 cm, \"In 1843, James Strang, a charismatic young lawyer and avowed atheist, converted to a burgeoning religious movement known as Mormonism. He persuaded hundreds to follow him to Beaver Island in Lake Michigan, and declared himself a divine king. He controlled a fourth of the state of Michigan, practiced plural marriages, and established a pirate colony where he perpetrated thefts, corruption and frauds of all kinds. His assassination made front-page news across the country. Harvey tells Strang's fascinating but largely forgotten story, an account of one of the country's boldest con men and the boisterous era that allowed him to thrive.\"--Adapted from book jacket, Includes bibliographical references (pages 377-386) and index, Prologue: In which an angel watches a man fall from a window in Illinois, then flies to Wisconsin with pressing business -- In which we meet a man who isn't there -- In which we encounter a mermaid and witness the birth of another imaginary being -- In which one shining city falls and another begins to rise from the prairie -- In which a kingdom is born -- In which one charlatan is run out of town, only to be replaced by an even greater scoundrel -- In which the end of the world approaches and a sea monster spotted off Beaver Island -- In which we meet J.J. Strang's mysterious nephew -- In which our protagonist faces a choice between the diabolical and the divine-- and, for once, does not place himself on both sides -- In which the King of Earth and Heaven is inaugurated with a crown made of paper on a throne stuffed with tree moss -- In which the inhabitants of Beaver Island evolve into what Charles Darwin might have called \"a different set of beings\" -- In which a melodrama is performed, and the curtains fall on one of the players -- In which the country's chief executive can't make up his mind -- In which many people feel trapped -- In which one fanatic hunts a white whale and another tracks down a missing monarch…