The Confidence Man was a uniquely American invention in the 19th century. When Europeans and “Old Money” were interested in investing in the bold new enterprises of a new country, tricksters used tall tales and slick talk to part them from their cash.
Join Chicago author Miles Harvey for a conversation on his new book, The King of Confidence: A Tale of Utopian Dreamers, Frontier Schemers, Ture Believers, False Prophets, and The Murder of an American Monarch. The book digs into the strange and mostly unknown story of James Strang and the singular movement in antebellum America that allowed him – and the new breed of ‘confidence men” –to thrive. Register now.
Author Miles Harvey. Photo courtesy DePaul University.
Miles Harvey is the author of the national bestseller, The Island of Lost Maps, and a Knight-Wallace journalism fellowship recipient. His book, Painter in a Savage Land, was named a Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year. He teaches at DePaul University.
See the New York Times review.
From the publisher Little Brown.
Put it on hold at the Chicago Public Library.
This program is a partnership of the Edgewater Branch Library and Friends of the Edgewater Library.