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Bare-Faced Messiah Going Back Into Print

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Crusader

Anonycat

Crusader
A highly acclaimed, out of print biography of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard will be back in print in February, 2014.
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/3269-bare-faced-messiah-scientologys-founder-fantasist-l-ron-hubbard

Written by British investigative journalist Russell Miller, Bare-faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard -- first published 26 years ago -- is considered by many Scientology watchers to be best and most comprehensive biography of Hubbard.

*Full article at link

Great news! I hope Bent gets his printed again, too.
 

McCloud

New Member
Awesome news! Haven't had a chance to get my hands on this book yet and I can't wait!

In your opinion how does it stack up against Messiah or Madman?

I've read numerous books about Scn (Going Clear, Beyond Belief, etc.), which were mostly first person accounts from former members, but I've only read a couple of full LRH biographies. Other than bridge pub's LRH Series, of course (gettin a headache just thinking about that!)

Eager to check this out!
 

Veda

Sponsor
Awesome news! Haven't had a chance to get my hands on this book yet and I can't wait!

In your opinion how does it stack up against Messiah or Madman?

I've read numerous books about Scn (Going Clear, Beyond Belief, etc.), which were mostly first person accounts from former members, but I've only read a couple of full LRH biographies. Other than bridge pub's LRH Series, of course (gettin a headache just thinking about that!)

Eager to check this out!

Two very different books. Each complement the other.

Messiah or Madman? was published first and, having been under attack, was rushed to print, and with an emergency cover. The intended cover, which had featured Hubbard's head flying out of an erupting volcano, had been stopped, by Scientology, by court order.

This is the cover for the later editions:

messiahormadmen.jpg

Messiah or Madman? was not really a biography as much as an examination, using an unorthodox format, of both Hubbard and Scientology, including, in detail, its ideas and methods, and their background.

L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman? by Class VIII auditor Bent Corydon., 2nd edition: http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0942637577/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-0654802-4263319


Messiah or Madman?

The book L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman? has been published in three English language editions, each further updated and expanded (1987, 1992, and 1996.) There is also a hardbound Russian language edition that became available in 2005.

Unlike most other books on Scientology, 'Messiah or Madman?' examines both the "positives" and "negatives" of the subject.

An excerpt from the book flap for the 464 page 1996 edition:


"I have high hopes of smashing my name
into history so violently that it will take a
legendary form even if all the books are
destroyed. That goal is the real goal as far as
I am concerned. Things which stand too
consistently in my way make me nervous.
It's a pretty big job. In a hundred years
Roosevelt will have been forgotten - which
gives some idea of the magnitude of my
attempt. And all this boils and froths inside
my head...
"Psychiatrists, reaching the high of the
dusty desk, tell us that Alexander, Genghis
Khan and Napoleon were madmen. I know
they're maligning some very intelligent
gentlemen."

L. Ron Hubbard wrote these words in a letter to
his first wife in 1938.

In 1950 he wrote the bestseller 'Dianetics, the
Modern Science of Mental Health. This inspired a
layman oriented mental health movement which,
ultimately, developed into Scientology, the most
profitable of the money-making new religions.

Hubbard's early Dianetic and Scientology writings
borrow freely from Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and
the founder of General Semantics, Alfred Korzybski.

And P.T. Barnum appears to have been an inspiration.

Hubbard also took much from the writings of Aleister
Crowley - self-proclaimed "Beast 666." This is a source
of embarrassment for the Scientology Church, which
is determined to achieve broad public acceptance.

In the 1960s Hubbard incorporated Brainwashing
methodologies into the subject. He established the
"Fair Game Policy" which states that an "enemy" of
Scientology "may be deprived of property or injured
by any means by any Scientologist, without
discipline of that Scientologist. May be tricked,
sued, lied to or destroyed."

He also became the Commodore of his own private
navy, and began to refer to himself as "Source."

L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman? exposes
as never before the dark side of Scientology, yet
contains an in-depth examination of the potential
positives of the subject and their actual origins.



________________​


Bare-Faced Messiah is a traditional biography, and really the only traditional biography on Hubbard.

After over thirty years of trying, the CofS has failed to produce a serious, traditional, biography on its founder, settling for a "Ron Encyclopedia," which is a series of puffed-up coffee table books, consisting of some Hubbard essays and lots and lots of full page pictures of Hubbard.

RonSeriesProdShot_Book_0.jpg.crop_display.jpg



This is the cover of the paperback Bare-Faced Messiah from the late 1980s:

150px-Bare_Faced_Messiah_UK_paperback_cover.jpg
 

Ogsonofgroo

Crusader
Wonderful news! Kind of a weird thought, but the only re-prints Hubbard ever gets is from his own vanity press.... fuck you cult.


:dancer:
 

DartSmohen

Silver Meritorious Patron
Russell Miller came to see me when he was compiling his book. I was not impressed by him and only gave him a few tit-bits.

There was a whole lot more I could have told him, but decided not to.
 

Cat's Squirrel

Gold Meritorious Patron
I suspect Dart knew what he was doing, even though I agree his story would have been worth telling in print from what I've read of it here.
 

Freeminds

Bitter defrocked apostate
Russell Miller came to see me when he was compiling his book. I was not impressed by him and only gave him a few tit-bits.

There was a whole lot more I could have told him, but decided not to.

I think you misjudged him. He did an astonishingly good job, considering that he was working before most of the information about Hubbard's real life hit the Internet. Even now, 'Barefaced Messiah' is often my first source when looking up a fact about Ron, in order to discuss him here.

Is there any chance that this reprint will feature an update or epilogue, detailing the decline of the Cult in recent years?
 

ThetanExterior

Gold Meritorious Patron
I read Bare-Faced Messiah a few months ago. I really enjoyed it and it answered a lot of questions for me.

I'd definitely recommend it to anyone.:yes:
 

Dean Blair

Silver Meritorious Patron
All of these wonderful books exposing the truth about Scientology is very good indeed. I would like to see these books made into audio books so that people could listen to the information while driving or even relaxing at home. One day there will probably even be a full length movie made about the subject showing the history of Scientology and all of the cruel and inhumane activities that have been perpetrated.
 

Type4_PTS

Diamond Invictus SP
All of these wonderful books exposing the truth about Scientology is very good indeed. I would like to see these books made into audio books so that people could listen to the information while driving or even relaxing at home. One day there will probably even be a full length movie made about the subject showing the history of Scientology and all of the cruel and inhumane activities that have been perpetrated.

I'd love to see that movie made. :yes:

I know just the man to take on that project. :)


paul_zps5eb7ca82.jpg
 

DartSmohen

Silver Meritorious Patron
Thats kind of a shame Dart, maybe write your own story then, the more the merrier I say!

:cheers:

It was the same with Janet Reitman. She was in contact for months. I gave her some background material and even sent her a copy of Hubbard's finest work, "The Final Blackout", for her to read. It became clear she had a particular theme to her book and I wasn't going to input anything which might shift it off line. Funny enough she promised to send me a signed copy. Never came. Talk is cheap.

I gave John Atak a lot of material for his book "A piece of Blue Sky". Even so, certain facts were withheld.

The fact is Hubbard is dead. He is never coming back. So, what is the point in disclosing very unsavory information about him, things that happened in the 1950's, his drug involvement, properties he owned, women he had affairs with, crimes that were carried out on his orders etc.
A lot of what I learned was in confidential communication, therefore I am not at liberty to discuss such matters. Even so, there was plenty I personally witnessed and Hubbard knew I knew all about him. That is why I was so close to him. Keep your friends close but your enemies even closer.

When my (then) wife decided she was not going back into the SO environment with our new daughter an Ethics Order was issued on me stating "I was relieved of my SO contract. Go figure.
 

Cat's Squirrel

Gold Meritorious Patron
It was the same with Janet Reitman. She was in contact for months. I gave her some background material and even sent her a copy of Hubbard's finest work, "The Final Blackout", for her to read. It became clear she had a particular theme to her book and I wasn't going to input anything which might shift it off line. Funny enough she promised to send me a signed copy. Never came. Talk is cheap.

I gave John Atak a lot of material for his book "A piece of Blue Sky". Even so, certain facts were withheld.

The fact is Hubbard is dead. He is never coming back. So, what is the point in disclosing very unsavory information about him, things that happened in the 1950's, his drug involvement, properties he owned, women he had affairs with, crimes that were carried out on his orders etc.

A lot of what I learned was in confidential communication, therefore I am not at liberty to discuss such matters. Even so, there was plenty I personally witnessed and Hubbard knew I knew all about him. That is why I was so close to him. Keep your friends close but your enemies even closer.

When my (then) wife decided she was not going back into the SO environment with our new daughter an Ethics Order was issued on me stating "I was relieved of my SO contract. Go figure.

Well, my answer would be because a lot of people idolise him based on that lack of information. If the man actually WAS unsavoury, does he have the right to be remembered differently? I can't honestly see why, especially when the way he's being presented is a crucial part of the hold the Scn cult has on people.

I've heard the saying "De mortuis nil nisi bonum", but I don't see why it should apply to people whose influence outlives them. For example, Jack Kennedy isn't coming back either, but I'd say it was better that we know of his compulsive philandering (he was pretty much a satyr) than we continue to think that he was a devoted and faithful husband to Jackie. He was still brave and resolute, held his nerve and made the right calls during the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962, which IMO was far more important.
 
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Cat's Squirrel

Gold Meritorious Patron
Another example; Jimmy Savile raised millions for charity. If it turns out to be true (as is now claimed) that he was also a serial child abuser, should that be kept quiet? If so, why?
 

Terril park

Sponsor


I gave John Atak a lot of material for his book "A piece of Blue Sky". Even so, certain facts were withheld.


Its been reissued and includes new material.

When my (then) wife decided she was not going back into the SO environment with our new daughter an Ethics Order was issued on me stating "I was relieved of my SO contract. Go figure.

Thats got to be a bigger achievement than getting of the mailing list:coolwink:
 

NoName

A Girl Has No Name
Awesome news! Haven't had a chance to get my hands on this book yet and I can't wait!

In your opinion how does it stack up against Messiah or Madman?

I've read numerous books about Scn (Going Clear, Beyond Belief, etc.), which were mostly first person accounts from former members, but I've only read a couple of full LRH biographies. Other than bridge pub's LRH Series, of course (gettin a headache just thinking about that!)

Eager to check this out!

You can get the old version as well as many other of the "Suppressive Basics" at this link right here.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/
 

oneonewasaracecar

Gold Meritorious Patron
It doesn't say whether or not the edition published in Feb 2014 will be the same edition or a different one. In particular, he made a correction about Excalibur.

In any case, this is a good sign for a few reasons:

1) It indicates that the topic is big enough in the public consciousness to republish.
2) It indicates the publisher is not afraid of Scientology.
3) It indicates that the agenda in the public eye is one of the unfunny truth rather than the couch jumping.
4) A book by an award winning journalist is likely to impact on the American establishment.
 
Awesome news! Haven't had a chance to get my hands on this book yet and I can't wait!

In your opinion how does it stack up against Messiah or Madman?

I've read numerous books about Scn (Going Clear, Beyond Belief, etc.), which were mostly first person accounts from former members, but I've only read a couple of full LRH biographies. Other than bridge pub's LRH Series, of course (gettin a headache just thinking about that!)

Eager to check this out!

imho...

coreyden's book is best of the synoptic bios alongside miller and atucks "blue sky". bent is plainly an amateur but it gives much charm to his writing. the other two add some material. all three give much weight to his study of crowley with parsons...

a competent bio remains be produced...
 
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