a tale of utopian dreamers, frontier schemers, true believers, false prophets, and the murder of an American monarch
"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 . . . forgotten story, an account of one of the country's . . . con men and the boisterous era that allowed him to thrive"--OCLC.
