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This “wonderfully digressive” tale of James Jesse Strang — an early American con man — “is littered with thumbnail histories of 19th-century cross-dressing, John Brown, John Deere, the Brontës, bloomers, the Underground Railroad, mesmerism, newspaper exchanges, the Illuminati and much else,” our reviewer, Chris Jennings, wrote.

Harvey’s entertaining history of James Jesse Strang, a 19th-century con man who led a breakaway Mormon colony on an island in Lake Michigan, chronicles a manic, anxious, gullible time, not unlike our own.

Probably not, at least judging by “The King of Confidence,” Miles Harvey’s jaunty, far-ranging history of the 19th-century con man and prophet James Jesse Strang.

Guernsey State Park rangers were called after James “Jesse” Nelson jumped into the reservoir to save someone who had jumped into the water from a boat Sept 14.

Guernsey State Park rangers were called Sunday afternoon after James “Jesse” Nelson jumped into the reservoir to save someone who had jumped into the water from a boat.