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..

... jaunty, far-ranging.

... meticulously researched.

Mr. Harvey is a skillful writer and thorough researcher.

Readers of Harvey’s first two books know that he’s a remarkable sleuth, a writer with a passion for maps and islands and the patience to tell a complicated story.

Writing with electrifying pleasure in discovery, Harvey zestfully captures 'the carnivalesque atmosphere' of antebellum America.

Harvey has penned a tour de force of popular history. Light on deep or original historical analysis, this work recounts Strang's colorful story.

Journalist Harvey...delivers a vivid account of the life and times of American sect leader, lawyer, newspaper editor, and con man.

A nicely spun yarn of religious chicanery on the frontier in a nearly forgotten historical episode.