-
The King of Confidence
- A Tale of Utopian Dreamers, Frontier Schemers, True Believers, False Prophets, and the Murder of an American Monarch
- Narrated by: Rengin Altay
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $21.83
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
The "unputdownable" (Dave Eggers, National Book award finalist) story of the most infamous American con man you've never heard of: James Strang, self-proclaimed divine king of earth, heaven, and an island in Lake Michigan, "perfect for fans of The Devil in the White City" (Kirkus)
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
Longlisted for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction
A CrimeReads Best True Crime Book of the Year
"A masterpiece." (Nathaniel Philbrick)
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's 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.
The King of Confidence tells this fascinating but largely forgotten story. Centering his narrative on this charlatan's turbulent 12 years in power, Miles Harvey gets to the root of a timeless American original: the Confidence Man. Full of adventure, bad behavior, and insight into a crucial period of antebellum history, The King of Confidence brings us a compulsively listenable account of one of the country's boldest con men and the boisterous era that allowed him to thrive.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Rogues
- True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Pain and Say Nothing—and one of the most decorated journalists of our time—twelve enthralling stories of skulduggery and intrigue.
-
-
Too political
- By Xi Chen on 07-11-22
-
Kingdom of Nauvoo
- The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier
- By: Benjamin E. Park
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Compared to the Puritans, Mormons have rarely gotten their due, often treated as fringe cultists or marginalized polygamists unworthy of serious examination. In Kingdom of Nauvoo, Benjamin E. Park excavates the brief, tragic life of a lost Mormon city, demonstrating that the Mormons are essential to understanding American history writ large. Using newly accessible sources, Park re-creates the Mormons' 1839 flight from Missouri to Illinois.
-
-
Can't get over "Nauvoo" pronunciation
- By Emily Christensen on 03-10-20
By: Benjamin E. Park
-
An Assassin in Utopia
- The True Story of a Nineteenth-Century Sex Cult and a President's Murder
- By: Susan Wels
- Narrated by: Kitty Hendrix
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was heaven on earth—and, some whispered, the devil’s garden. Thousands came by trains and carriages to see this new Eden, carved from hundreds of acres of wild woodland. They marveled at orchards bursting with fruit, thick herds of Ayrshire cattle and Cotswold sheep, and whizzing mills. They gaped at the people who lived in this place—especially the women, with their queer cropped hair and shamelessly short skirts. The men and women of this strange outpost worked and slept together—without sin, they claimed.
-
-
Just Okay. That's it.
- By Jeffy on 04-18-23
By: Susan Wels
-
Blood of the Prophets
- Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows
- By: Will Bagley
- Narrated by: Charles Henderson Norman
- Length: 20 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The massacre at Mountain Meadows on September 11, 1857, was the single most violent attack on a wagon train in the 30-year history of the Oregon and California trails. Yet it has been all but forgotten. Will Bagley's Blood of the Prophets is an award-winning, riveting account of the attack on the Baker-Fancher wagon train by Mormons in the local militia and a few Paiute Indians.
-
-
religion is dangerous
- By david dunn on 04-17-16
By: Will Bagley
-
The Confidence-Man
- His Masquerade
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Evoking Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, this is a story of interlocking tales from a group of steamboat passengers traveling down the Mississippi toward New Orleans. Aboard the Fidèle can be found all manner of con men, from those selling stock in failing companies and herbal cure-all "medicines" to those who are raising money for supposed charitable organizations and those who simply ask for money outright.
-
-
Trust and the confidence man
- By Nelson on 01-24-22
By: Herman Melville
-
The Wager
- A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Dion Graham, David Grann
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia.
-
-
Gasping for Air
- By Jean Engle on 04-19-23
By: David Grann
-
Rogues
- True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Pain and Say Nothing—and one of the most decorated journalists of our time—twelve enthralling stories of skulduggery and intrigue.
-
-
Too political
- By Xi Chen on 07-11-22
-
Kingdom of Nauvoo
- The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier
- By: Benjamin E. Park
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Compared to the Puritans, Mormons have rarely gotten their due, often treated as fringe cultists or marginalized polygamists unworthy of serious examination. In Kingdom of Nauvoo, Benjamin E. Park excavates the brief, tragic life of a lost Mormon city, demonstrating that the Mormons are essential to understanding American history writ large. Using newly accessible sources, Park re-creates the Mormons' 1839 flight from Missouri to Illinois.
-
-
Can't get over "Nauvoo" pronunciation
- By Emily Christensen on 03-10-20
By: Benjamin E. Park
-
An Assassin in Utopia
- The True Story of a Nineteenth-Century Sex Cult and a President's Murder
- By: Susan Wels
- Narrated by: Kitty Hendrix
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was heaven on earth—and, some whispered, the devil’s garden. Thousands came by trains and carriages to see this new Eden, carved from hundreds of acres of wild woodland. They marveled at orchards bursting with fruit, thick herds of Ayrshire cattle and Cotswold sheep, and whizzing mills. They gaped at the people who lived in this place—especially the women, with their queer cropped hair and shamelessly short skirts. The men and women of this strange outpost worked and slept together—without sin, they claimed.
-
-
Just Okay. That's it.
- By Jeffy on 04-18-23
By: Susan Wels
-
Blood of the Prophets
- Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows
- By: Will Bagley
- Narrated by: Charles Henderson Norman
- Length: 20 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The massacre at Mountain Meadows on September 11, 1857, was the single most violent attack on a wagon train in the 30-year history of the Oregon and California trails. Yet it has been all but forgotten. Will Bagley's Blood of the Prophets is an award-winning, riveting account of the attack on the Baker-Fancher wagon train by Mormons in the local militia and a few Paiute Indians.
-
-
religion is dangerous
- By david dunn on 04-17-16
By: Will Bagley
-
The Confidence-Man
- His Masquerade
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Evoking Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, this is a story of interlocking tales from a group of steamboat passengers traveling down the Mississippi toward New Orleans. Aboard the Fidèle can be found all manner of con men, from those selling stock in failing companies and herbal cure-all "medicines" to those who are raising money for supposed charitable organizations and those who simply ask for money outright.
-
-
Trust and the confidence man
- By Nelson on 01-24-22
By: Herman Melville
-
The Wager
- A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Dion Graham, David Grann
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia.
-
-
Gasping for Air
- By Jean Engle on 04-19-23
By: David Grann
-
A Fever in the Heartland
- The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them
- By: Timothy Egan
- Narrated by: Timothy Egan
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Roaring Twenties—the Jazz Age—has been characterized as a time of Gatsby frivolity. But it was also the height of the uniquely American hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Their domain was not the old Confederacy, but the Heartland and the West. They hated Blacks, Jews, Catholics and immigrants in equal measure, and took radical steps to keep these people from the American promise. And the man who set in motion their takeover of great swaths of America was a charismatic charlatan named D.C. Stephenson.
-
-
This is a must read!
- By V. Richmond on 04-14-23
By: Timothy Egan
-
American Black Widow
- Dangerous Women: True Crime Stories
- By: Gregg Olsen
- Narrated by: Karen Peakes
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Colorado, 1976. When Reverend Mike Fuller and his beautiful wife, Sharon, arrive in the sleepy town of Rocky Ford, local residents think something’s off about the new couple. The God-fearing minister is gruff and cold, while charismatic Sharon has her husband wrapped around her finger.
-
-
🤢
- By Brittany on 07-28-23
By: Gregg Olsen
-
That Dark and Bloody River
- Chronicles of the Ohio River Valley
- By: Allan W. Eckert
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 35 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They came on foot and by horseback, in wagons and on rafts, singly and by the score, restless, adventurous, enterprising, relentless, seeking a foothold on the future. European immigrants and American colonists, settlers and speculators, soldiers and missionaries, fugitives from justice and from despair-pioneers all, in the great and inexorable westward expansion defined at its heart by the majestic flow of the Ohio River. This is their story, a chronicle of monumental dimension, of resounding drama and impact set during a pivotal era in our history: the birth and growth of a nation.
-
-
Fascinating Look at a forgotten chapter of history
- By Chidwick on 07-25-19
By: Allan W. Eckert
-
Powers and Thrones
- A New History of the Middle Ages
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 24 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the once-mighty city of Rome was sacked by barbarians in 410 and lay in ruins, it signaled the end of an era—and the beginning of a thousand years of profound transformation. In a gripping narrative bursting with big names—from St Augustine and Attila the Hun to the Prophet Muhammad and Eleanor of Aquitaine—Dan Jones charges through the history of the Middle Ages. Powers and Thrones takes listeners on a journey through an emerging Europe, the great capitals of late Antiquity, as well as the influential cities of the Islamic West.
-
-
Hard to take a break from it!
- By Mariano's Music on 12-09-21
By: Dan Jones
-
A World Beneath the Sands
- The Golden Age of Egyptology
- By: Toby Wilkinson
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In A World Beneath the Sands, acclaimed Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson chronicles the ruthless race between the British, French, Germans, and Americans to lay claim to its mysteries and treasures. He tells riveting stories of the men and women whose obsession with Egypt’s ancient civilization helped to enrich and transform our understanding of the Nile Valley and its people and left a lasting impression on Egypt, too.
-
-
An entrancing listen, fascinating History
- By L. Ford Ballard, Jr. on 01-27-21
By: Toby Wilkinson
-
American Midnight
- The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis
- By: Adam Hochschild
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From legendary historian Adam Hochschild, a groundbreaking reassessment of the overlooked but startlingly resonant period between World War I and the Roaring Twenties, when the foundations of American democracy were threated by war, pandemic, and violence fueled by battles over race, immigration, and the rights of labor
-
-
Disturbing yet Reassuring
- By Sams95 on 11-18-22
By: Adam Hochschild
-
All That Is Wicked
- A Gilded-Age Story of Murder and the Race to Decode the Criminal Mind
- By: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Narrated by: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Edward Rulloff was a brilliant yet utterly amoral murderer—some have called him a “Victorian-era Hannibal Lecter”—whose crimes spanned decades and whose victims were chosen out of revenge, out of envy, and sometimes out of necessity.
-
-
PLEASE STOP The Politicizing of Everything
- By Anonymous on 10-15-22
-
Last Call
- A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York
- By: Elon Green
- Narrated by: David Pittu
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Townhouse Bar, midtown, July 1992: The piano player seems to know every song ever written, the crowd belts out the lyrics to their favorites, and a man standing nearby is drinking a Scotch and water. The man strikes the piano player as forgettable. He looks bland and inconspicuous. Not at all what you think a serial killer looks like. But that’s what he is, and tonight, he has his sights set on a gray haired man. He will not be his first victim.
-
-
shockingly sad but so informative
- By Kelly on 08-30-21
By: Elon Green
-
The Devil and Sherlock Holmes
- Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether he’s reporting on the infiltration of the murderous Aryan Brotherhood into the U.S. prison system, tracking down a chameleon con artist in Europe, or riding in a cyclone- tossed skiff with a scientist hunting the elusive giant squid, David Grann revels in telling stories that explore the nature of obsession and that piece together true and unforgettable mysteries.
-
-
One good story, but mostly ho hum.....
- By William on 04-19-10
By: David Grann
-
The History of the Ancient World
- From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome
- By: Susan Wise Bauer
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the first volume in a bold new series that tells the stories of all peoples, connecting historical events from Europe to the Middle East to the far coast of China, while still giving weight to the characteristics of each country. Susan Wise Bauer provides both sweeping scope and vivid attention to the individual lives that give flesh to abstract assertions about human history. This narrative history employs the methods of "history from beneath" - literature, epic traditions, private letters, and accounts - to connect kings and leaders with the lives of those they ruled.
-
-
An Historic Achievement
- By Ellen S. Wilds on 04-25-14
By: Susan Wise Bauer
-
SPQR
- A History of Ancient Rome
- By: Mary Beard
- Narrated by: Phyllida Nash
- Length: 18 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In SPQR, world-renowned classicist Mary Beard narrates the unprecedented rise of a civilization that even 2,000 years later still shapes many of our most fundamental assumptions about power, citizenship, responsibility, political violence, empire, luxury, and beauty.
-
-
Shallow and unsatisfying
- By Joe on 02-19-17
By: Mary Beard
-
Napoleon
- A Life
- By: Andrew Roberts
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 32 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Andrew Roberts' Napoleon is the first one-volume biography to take advantage of the recent publication of Napoleon's thirty-three thousand letters, which radically transform our understanding of his character and motivation. At last we see him as he was: protean multitasker, decisive, surprisingly willing to forgive his enemies and his errant wife Josephine.
-
-
What a dynamo!
- By Tad Davis on 01-16-15
By: Andrew Roberts
Critic reviews
"The story of James Strang - a messianic con man who wreaks havoc on an island community of his own devising - is amazing in itself. But it is the telling of the tale - think Herman Melville meets Mark Twain - that makes The King of Confidence a masterpiece. This book has talons that sink into you and won't let go." (Nathaniel Philbrick, New York Times best-selling author of In the Heart of the Sea and Mayflower)
"The King of Confidence is a ludicrously enjoyable, unputdownable read - a book with unsettling (but also weirdly comforting) parallels to our time. By illuminating this forgotten moment in American history, where a group of rational adults fell under the spell of a charismatic madman, Harvey reminds us of the endlessly repeating nature of history and humanity." (Dave Eggers, National Book Award finalist and New York Times best-selling author of Zeitoun and What Is the What)
"A spirited, entertaining read with a twist of insight and a tang of scandal.... Harvey has penned a tour de force of popular history." (Library Journal)
Related to this topic
-
Murder at the Mission
- A Frontier Killing, Its Legacy of Lies, and the Taking of the American West
- By: Blaine Harden
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1836, two missionaries and their wives were among the first Americans to cross the Rockies by covered wagon on what would become the Oregon Trail. Dr. Marcus Whitman and Reverend Henry Spalding were headed to present-day Washington state and Idaho, where they aimed to convert members of the Cayuse and Nez Perce tribes. Both would fail spectacularly as missionaries.
-
-
Good history; wanted more indigenous perspective.
- By Anonymous User on 07-06-21
By: Blaine Harden
-
John Brown, Abolitionist
- The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights
- By: David S. Reynolds
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 25 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few historical figures are as intriguing as John Brown, the controversial Abolitionist who used terrorist tactics against slavery and single-handedly changed the course of American history. This brilliant biography of Brown (1800-1859) by the prize-winning critic and cultural biographer David S. Reynolds brings to life the Puritan warrior who gripped slavery by the throat and triggered the Civil War. When does principled resistance become anarchic brutality? How can a murderer be viewed as a heroic freedom fighter? The case of John Brown opens windows on these timely issues.
-
-
The story of the man who saved America from itself
- By Marc on 09-29-20
-
Covered with Night
- A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America
- By: Nicole Eustace
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the eve of a major treaty conference between Iroquois leaders and European colonists in the distant summer of 1722, two White fur traders attacked an Indigenous hunter and left him for dead near Conestoga, Pennsylvania. This act of brutality set into motion a remarkable series of criminal investigations and cross-cultural negotiations that challenged the definition of justice in early America. Leading historian Nicole Eustace reconstructs the crime and its aftermath, bringing us into the overlapping worlds of white colonists and Indigenous peoples in this formative period.
-
-
YES! I GET IT! I've read history before - JUST STOP!!!!! British settlers were arrogant jerks!! Aaaaaaaargh
- By Anonymous From MA on 06-02-22
By: Nicole Eustace
-
One Nation, Under Gods
- A New American History
- By: Peter Manseau
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 17 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the heart of the nation's spiritual history are audacious and often violent scenes. But the Puritans and the shining city on the hill give us just one way to understand the United States. Rather than recite American history from a Christian vantage point, Peter Manseau proves that what really happened is worth a close, fresh look.
-
-
Tapestry of different pieces makes for a whole
- By Gary on 03-23-15
By: Peter Manseau
-
Young Benjamin Franklin
- The Birth of Ingenuity
- By: Nick Bunker
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From his early career as a printer and journalist to his scientific work and his role as a founder of a new republic, Benjamin Franklin has always seemed the inevitable embodiment of American ingenuity. But in his youth, he had to make his way through a harsh colonial world, where he fought many battles with his rivals, but also with his wayward emotions. Taking Franklin to the age of 41, when he made his first electrical discoveries, Bunker goes behind the legend to reveal the sources of his passion for knowledge.
-
-
Good Book but LOTS of Names
- By Tim on 10-31-19
By: Nick Bunker
-
Love and Hate in Jamestown
- John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Start of a New Nation
- By: David A. Price
- Narrated by: Josh Innerst
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on period letters and chronicles, and on the papers of the Virginia Company - which financed the settlement of Jamestown - David Price tells a tale of cowardice and courage, stupidity and brilliance, tragedy and costly triumph. He takes us into the day-to-day existence of the English men and women whose charge was to find gold and a route to the Orient, and who found, instead, hardship and wretched misery. Death, in fact, became the settlers' most faithful companion, and their infighting was ceaseless.
-
-
Five Star History!
- By Damian on 08-13-23
By: David A. Price
-
Murder at the Mission
- A Frontier Killing, Its Legacy of Lies, and the Taking of the American West
- By: Blaine Harden
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1836, two missionaries and their wives were among the first Americans to cross the Rockies by covered wagon on what would become the Oregon Trail. Dr. Marcus Whitman and Reverend Henry Spalding were headed to present-day Washington state and Idaho, where they aimed to convert members of the Cayuse and Nez Perce tribes. Both would fail spectacularly as missionaries.
-
-
Good history; wanted more indigenous perspective.
- By Anonymous User on 07-06-21
By: Blaine Harden
-
John Brown, Abolitionist
- The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights
- By: David S. Reynolds
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 25 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few historical figures are as intriguing as John Brown, the controversial Abolitionist who used terrorist tactics against slavery and single-handedly changed the course of American history. This brilliant biography of Brown (1800-1859) by the prize-winning critic and cultural biographer David S. Reynolds brings to life the Puritan warrior who gripped slavery by the throat and triggered the Civil War. When does principled resistance become anarchic brutality? How can a murderer be viewed as a heroic freedom fighter? The case of John Brown opens windows on these timely issues.
-
-
The story of the man who saved America from itself
- By Marc on 09-29-20
-
Covered with Night
- A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America
- By: Nicole Eustace
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the eve of a major treaty conference between Iroquois leaders and European colonists in the distant summer of 1722, two White fur traders attacked an Indigenous hunter and left him for dead near Conestoga, Pennsylvania. This act of brutality set into motion a remarkable series of criminal investigations and cross-cultural negotiations that challenged the definition of justice in early America. Leading historian Nicole Eustace reconstructs the crime and its aftermath, bringing us into the overlapping worlds of white colonists and Indigenous peoples in this formative period.
-
-
YES! I GET IT! I've read history before - JUST STOP!!!!! British settlers were arrogant jerks!! Aaaaaaaargh
- By Anonymous From MA on 06-02-22
By: Nicole Eustace
-
One Nation, Under Gods
- A New American History
- By: Peter Manseau
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 17 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the heart of the nation's spiritual history are audacious and often violent scenes. But the Puritans and the shining city on the hill give us just one way to understand the United States. Rather than recite American history from a Christian vantage point, Peter Manseau proves that what really happened is worth a close, fresh look.
-
-
Tapestry of different pieces makes for a whole
- By Gary on 03-23-15
By: Peter Manseau
-
Young Benjamin Franklin
- The Birth of Ingenuity
- By: Nick Bunker
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From his early career as a printer and journalist to his scientific work and his role as a founder of a new republic, Benjamin Franklin has always seemed the inevitable embodiment of American ingenuity. But in his youth, he had to make his way through a harsh colonial world, where he fought many battles with his rivals, but also with his wayward emotions. Taking Franklin to the age of 41, when he made his first electrical discoveries, Bunker goes behind the legend to reveal the sources of his passion for knowledge.
-
-
Good Book but LOTS of Names
- By Tim on 10-31-19
By: Nick Bunker
-
Love and Hate in Jamestown
- John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Start of a New Nation
- By: David A. Price
- Narrated by: Josh Innerst
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on period letters and chronicles, and on the papers of the Virginia Company - which financed the settlement of Jamestown - David Price tells a tale of cowardice and courage, stupidity and brilliance, tragedy and costly triumph. He takes us into the day-to-day existence of the English men and women whose charge was to find gold and a route to the Orient, and who found, instead, hardship and wretched misery. Death, in fact, became the settlers' most faithful companion, and their infighting was ceaseless.
-
-
Five Star History!
- By Damian on 08-13-23
By: David A. Price
-
The Fever of 1721
- The Epidemic That Revolutionized Medicine and American Politics
- By: Stephen Coss
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the worst smallpox epidemic in Boston history, Mather convinced Doctor Boylston to try a procedure that he believed would prevent death - by making an incision in the arm of a healthy person and implanting it with smallpox. "Inoculation" led to vaccination, one of the most profound medical discoveries in history.
-
-
Glad that's done
- By GB on 04-21-16
By: Stephen Coss
-
Three Roads to the Alamo
- The Lives and Fortunes of David Crockett, James Bowie, and William Barret Travis
- By: William C. Davis
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 27 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Three Roads to the Alamo is the definitive work about the lives of David Crockett, James Bowie, and William Barret Travis - the legendary frontiersmen and fighters who met their destiny at the Alamo in one of the most famous and tragic battles in American history - and about what really happened in that battle.
-
-
Grandfather Dr. Death eats Applesauce on Christmas
- By McKinley L. Donnor on 07-15-20
By: William C. Davis
-
The Grandees
- America's Sephardic Elite
- By: Stephen Birmingham
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1654, 23 Jewish families arrived in New Amsterdam (now New York) aboard a French privateer. They were the Sephardim, members of a proud orthodox sect that had served as royal advisors and honored professionals under Moorish rule in Spain and Portugal but were then exiled by intolerant monarchs. A small, closed, and intensely private community, the Sephardim soon established themselves as businessmen and financiers. They became powerful forces in society, with some, like banker Haym Salomon, even providing financial support to George Washington's army during the American Revolution.
-
-
Amazing American History - Jews Made a Profound Impact
- By Jimmy Rosen on 12-27-21
-
Away Off Shore
- Nantucket Island and Its People, 1602-1890
- By: Nathaniel Philbrick
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his first book of history, Away Off Shore, New York Times best-selling author Nathaniel Philbrick reveals the people and the stories behind what was once the whaling capital of the world. Beyond its charm, quaint local traditions, and whaling yarns, Philbrick explores the origins of Nantucket in this comprehensive history. From the English settlers who thought they were purchasing a "Native American ghost town" but actually found a fully realized society, the story of Nantucket is a truly unique chapter of American history.
-
-
There once were some (wo)men in Nantucket...
- By Darwin8u on 02-03-19
-
Revolver
- Sam Colt and the Six-Shooter That Changed America
- By: Jim Rasenberger
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 16 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brilliantly told, Revolver brings the brazenly ambitious and profoundly innovative industrialist and leader Samuel Colt to vivid life. In the space of his 47 years, he seemingly lived five lives: He traveled, womanized, drank prodigiously, smuggled guns to Russia, bribed politicians, and supplied the Union Army with the guns they needed to win the Civil War. Colt lived during an age of promise and progress, but also of slavery, corruption, and unbridled greed, and he not only helped to create this America, he completely embodied it.
-
-
Sam Colt, but not the Revolver
- By Eggleston on 08-01-20
By: Jim Rasenberger
-
The Story of America
- Essays on Origins
- By: Jill Lepore
- Narrated by: Colleen Devine
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Story of America, Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore investigates American origin stories - from John Smith's account of the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to Barack Obama's 2009 inaugural address - to show how American democracy is bound up with the history of print. Over the centuries, Americans have read and written their way into a political culture of ink and type. Part civics primer, part cultural history, The Story of America excavates the origins of everything from the paper ballot and the Constitution to the I.O.U. and the dictionary.
-
-
A Fun Read on Historical Subjects
- By Jim on 08-31-13
By: Jill Lepore
-
Big Wonderful Thing
- By: Stephen Harrigan
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 28 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of Texas is the story of struggle and triumph in a land of extremes. It is a story of drought and flood, invasion and war, boom and bust, and of the myriad peoples who, over centuries of conflict, gave rise to a place that has helped shape the identity of the United States and the destiny of the world.
-
-
Guidall is in top form with very good material
- By Elizabeth on 12-22-19
By: Stephen Harrigan
-
Mayflower Lives
- Pilgrims in a New World and the Early American Experience
- By: Martyn Whittock
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leading into the 400th anniversary of the voyage of the Mayflower, Martyn Whittock examines the lives of the "saints" (members of the Separatist Puritan congregations) and "strangers" (economic migrants) on the original ship. Collectively, these people would become known to history as "the Pilgrims". The story of the Pilgrims has taken on a life of its own as one of our founding national myths - their escape from religious persecution, the dangerous transatlantic journey, that brutal first winter.
-
-
Wonderful!
- By Dennis Coello on 11-25-20
By: Martyn Whittock
-
The Island at the Center of the World
- The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America
- By: Russell Shorto
- Narrated by: Russell Shorto
- Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a landmark work of history, Russell Shorto presents astonishing information on the founding of our nation and reveals in riveting detail the crucial role of the Dutch in making America what it is today.
-
-
Incomplete history, but fun. Performance is poor.
- By Matthew on 11-27-18
By: Russell Shorto
-
Thomas Paine and the Clarion Call for American Independence
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From New York Times best-selling author and Founding Fathers' biographer Harlow Giles Unger comes the astonishing biography of the man whose pen set America ablaze, inspiring its revolution, and whose ideas about reason and religion continue to try men's souls.
-
-
well written and researched
- By K D on 09-29-19
-
American Crucifixion
- The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon Church
- By: Alex Beam
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On June 27, 1844, a mob stormed the jail in the dusty frontier town of Carthage, Illinois. Clamorous and angry, they were hunting down a man they saw as a grave threat to their otherwise quiet lives: The founding prophet of Mormonism, Joseph Smith. They wanted blood. At thirty-nine years old, Smith had already lived an outsized life. In addition to starting the Church of Latter-Day Saints and creating his own "Golden Bible" - the Book of Mormon - he had worked as a water-dowser and treasure hunter.
-
-
All religious histories are not created equal
- By Kendra on 07-01-14
By: Alex Beam
-
100 Amazing Facts About the Negro
- By: Henry Louis Gates Jr.
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With élan and erudition - and with winning enthusiasm - Henry Louis Gates Jr. gives us a corrective yet loving homage to Rogers' work. Relying on the latest scholarship, Gates leads us on a romp through African, diasporic, and African American history in question-and-answer format. Among the 100 questions: Who were Africa's first ambassadors to Europe? Who was the first black president in North America? Did Lincoln really free the slaves? Who was history's wealthiest person? What percentage of white Americans have recent African ancestry?
-
-
great book
- By Anthony Costello on 06-14-18
What listeners say about The King of Confidence
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 02-22-23
Amazing that this is news to me
Great book. I’m a little embarrassed that I never heard about this interesting story and I’m grateful to have it so well told.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 07-29-20
EXTRA EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT !!
I'm confident you will love this book!! So close to home and I had no idea.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Franklin
- 09-20-20
An alternate view of history
Narrator was good, however the story left me wondering when and how it would end.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark Erickson
- 08-11-20
Good story despite annoying, repetitive phrases
I had read plenty on Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, but I had never heard this story. It’s every bit as crazy and outrageous as Joseph Smith’s life—and overall, I was not disappointed. However, here’s my only forewarning: the author had the incredible annoying habit of repeating the description, “Antebellum era” and starting every chapter with “In Which...” Over the course of the book, this became nearly unbearable. How is it possible for editor(s) to miss this? Ugggh. Aside from this, the tale is quite amazing, and the author does a good job of contextualizing the the story within amide concurrent events of the time. Worth the time, if you can stomach some repetition.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Doug
- 08-04-20
An entertaining and insightful book
This book is well written, well performed, and an insightful voyage into antebellum America. It is intriguing, entertaining, and keeps the reader engaged.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Peter Barland, M.D.
- 12-07-21
Believe it or not.
Fascinating story and clever allusion to the present. Amazingly detailed. Learned a lot about antebellum America.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- jlf
- 10-03-20
deep dive into a wild American past
Story and overall: Here is my 5-star comment on "The King of Confidence" in Amazon:
Miles Harvey's superbly researched "The King of Confidence" metamorphoses what might seem to be unpromising material--the sketchily documented life of a once nationally famous, paradoxical religious conman--into an examination of mid-nineteenth prophets and cults and their true believers.
The history the book uncovers, focusing on an offshoot branch of Mormonism, is fascinating. There are enough twists and turns and action (sometimes violent) for a movie. But the best part, for me, is Harvey's analysis of the ideological roots of all this turbulence, including Manifest Destiny, the religious revival centered in New York's Burned Over District, and American and Mormon patriarchy. On the topic of Mormons, Harvey is scrupulously factual and more inclined to see the positive sides of his central figure's character than Brigham Young, his chief Mormon opponent, did.
This central figure is the sometimes shadowy, always grandiose farmer's son, James Strang--a dreamer, swindler and occasional idealist. Harvey fills in the gaps in Strang's life through what one reviewer called his "pointillist" technique of contextualizing Strang in the history of his era and connecting him with better-known historical actors such as Abraham Lincoln, John Brown, Joseph Smith, P.T. Barnum, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville. Yet "The King of Confidence" is far from being just a tale of charismatic men. We learn about Strang's wives, notably the cross-dressing Elvira Field/Charles Douglass, and their aspirations and disappointments in a time when they were legally subject to their husbands. Harvey illuminates their plight though the life and writings of their feminist contemporary, Margaret Fuller.
"The King of Confidence" is, apart from its broad historical vision, an engagingly written book, worth reading for its tour de force Prologue alone. And most readers will shiver with recognition when they shift from Harvey's mid-nineteenth century America to our national present.
Footnote: some of the repetitions in the book stem from historical repetitions and parallels, and the repeated chapter title format ("in which...") echoes nineteenth-century usage.
Performance: Rengin Altay's midwest-accented reading is flawless and lets the text speak for itself.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Will K
- 08-26-21
Brilliant narration, fascinating story
As a reader/listener of history, and frequently Mormon history, I was intrigued when I found this book while searching Audible one day. Since I had a bunch of unused credits, I thought "Why not!". I couldn't have been more pleased with the result.
Though I had heard about James J. Strang for years, I had no idea about his life and experiences as one of the great religious con-men of the 19th century. Miles Harvey's brilliant research and exquisite writing bring him to life. And his story will fascinate any listener.
Rengin Altay's narration is perfection, and she proves herself to be one of the most listenable audiobook narrators I've had the pleasure of listening to.
I highly recommend this audiobook to anyone interested in American history. Fantastic, fascinating book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ymlevine
- 08-10-20
Great narration
I’m particularly impressed with the narrator - she places a nice dramatic emphasis on the grandiloquent pronouncements of the Prophet, but always steers clear of a hammy performance. Her midwestern accent also feels just right, and I think it’s nice that she wasn’t ruled out as a narrator just because the history in question is male-dominated.
The text itself is also fascinating!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Marti
- 11-05-21
Curious and fascinating
Pros: Very bizarre and interesting true story. Great local history for Michiganders (piracy on the Great Lakes!) and interesting for Mormons as it relates to an early off-shoot group. (Though note this is definitely from the perspective of someone not convinced about the legitimacy of either branch or probably religion in general.)
Cons: overuse of the word “antebellum”
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful