Laurie Lounsbury

Kingdom Forgotten Laurie Lounsbury

A self-proclaimed prophet and king named James Jesse Strang had it all - power, fame and royalty - at least for a while.

James Strang ruled over his flock of Latter-Day Saints on a remote island in northern Lake Michigan in the mid-1800's, leaving behind a legacy of tyranny, piracy and polygamy.

With his tremendous ego and oratorical skills, Strang built up a community of over 2,500 Mormons and took political control of northern Michigan and its island inhabitants.

A clash of cultures soon followed as King Strang tried to impose his beliefs and laws onto both his followers and the non-believing, native islanders.

Kingdom Forgotten seamlessly stitches together the true events of James Strang's life with fictional characters that show what island life might have been like under Strang's rule. It is a story of kindness and killers; of ruthless pirates and innocent believers; of a Native American woman who had the courage to stand up to Strang, a man she both loved and hated; and it is the story of how one man's craving for power and control over others proved to be his ultimate undoing.