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b'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\\u2019s 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.

Today\\u2019s guest is Miles Harvey, author of \\u201cThe King of Confidence.\\u201d Centering his narrative on this charlatan\\u2019s turbulent twelve years in power, Strang\\u2019s story gets into a crucial period of antebellum history and an account of one of the country\\u2019s boldest con men and the boisterous era that allowed him to thrive.'